SF unification group to be unveiled tomorrow

A new group within Sinn Féin given the task of advancing the party's plans for a united Ireland is to have its inaugural meeting…

A new group within Sinn Féin given the task of advancing the party's plans for a united Ireland is to have its inaugural meeting tomorrow.

Party chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin will officially launch Aontu, the Irish for uniting, at an event in the Clinton Centre, Enniskillen. The launch precedes next month's publication by the party of a Green Paper for Irish Unity.

West Tyrone Assembly member Mr Barry McElduff has been appointed to head the new group, which will look at how services and infrastructure throughout the border region could be integrated.

Mr McElduff said Aontu would engage with trade unions, the business community and farming organisations, disadvantaged communities and marginalised groups on a range of issues concerning integration.

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"Life along the border for many people is characterised by poor planning, inadequate transport systems, insufficient energy supply and broadband networks and, critically, by a duplication of services that is uneconomic and inefficient," he said.

"Government discrimination, inadequate representation and poor planning have ensured that the border corridor is less developed and growing more slowly that the rest of the economy."

PA