THE SDLP is to seek talks with Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour over the next week to discuss future all-Ireland options, including a merger with another party. Speaking to party supporters in Dublin last night, SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the party is "exploring all the possibilities", but final decisions would be a matter for the membership.
Some in the SDLP are known to have been annoyed by the way in which a mid-April meeting in Louth between Fianna Fáil and the SDLP was reported, believing that the party's acceptance of closer ties with Fianna Fáil was being taken for granted.
The SDLP's fortunes have suffered in recent years, with a number of poor performances against Sinn Féin, and a fear that they will be frozen out of top political spots in the North for years to come.
The decision to make formal approaches to Fine Gael and Labour will be read, in some quarters, as a bid to strengthen their negotiating hand with Fianna Fáil - though many SDLP supporters are sharply opposed to any alliance with the latter.
Last night, a senior official in the party said an approach had been made to Labour for a meeting and one would be made shortly to Fine Gael: "Fianna Fáil are not the only ones looking at an all-Ireland realignment."
Responding to questions last night from The Irish Times, Mr Durkan said: "There is more than one party examining the possibilities of all-Ireland realignment and it would be foolish of the SDLP to settle on one course of action when other parties may settle on a different one." Confirming that Fine Gael had "no formal approaches" from the SDLP for a meeting, a Fine Gael spokesman said:
"We do know that there are voices within the SDLP who are not happy with the drift in policy direction. Enda Kenny has already made it clear to Mark Durkan that if the Fianna Fáil link-up proceeds then that will fundamentally alter its relationship with Fine Gael," he added.
The SDLP has set up a group, led by Mid-Ulster Northern Assembly member Patsy McGlone, and including Seán Farren and Eamon Mallon, to review the party's all-Ireland ambitions.
"This is a process with many possible outcomes and options. We are exploring all of these and ultimately it will be the party membership who will decide," said Mr Durkan last night.
Besides seeking closer ties to a party from the Republic, the SDLP leadership is also prepared to co-operate more closely with the Ulster Unionist Party.
No one, said Mr Durkan, would be allowed get away "with spurious claims" that the party's work was done now that the Assembly and the Executive were restored.
Speaking at the joint Fianna Fáil/SDLP event in Louth last month, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern hinted at a Fianna Fáil/SDLP convergence when he said Fianna Fáil and the SDLP "working together" could "dramatically enhance the economic and social wellbeing of this island". Fianna Fáil and the SDLP were both "pragmatic nationalist political movements", he said then.