Conference news: Dr Alasdair McDonnell was elected as the new deputy leader of the SDLP at its annual conference in Belfast yesterday. The former Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald led tributes to Ms Bríd Rodgers who retired from the post.
Dr McDonnell, the 54-year-old Assembly member for South Belfast, pledged that as deputy leader he would strive to revitalise the party. In accepting the position he withdrew his name from the nominations to be party candidate in the June European elections.
Ms Patricia Lewsley, the SDLP MLA for Lagan Valley, was elected as chairwoman of the party replacing West Belfast MLA Mr Alex Attwood.
North Belfast MLA Mr Alban Maginness and Mr John Dallat, MLA for East Derry, challenged Dr McDonnell, who is noted for his straight-talking combative nature.
In the first count Dr McDonnell won 149 votes, Mr Dallat 123 and Mr Maginness 85. With Mr Maginness's elimination Dr McDonnell won with 179 votes against Mr Dallat's 160.
Dr McDonnell said he ran a confrontational campaign because he was committed to reorganising the party and concentrating on the party's vision for the future. There must be a focus on restructuring and persuading younger people to get involved. He said he would work well with party leader Mr Mark Durkan. "I intend rebuilding and working with branches, and working with our grassroots at every level, and nurturing the good people who are out there."
Addressing the party's annual dinner on Saturday night, the former Taoiseach Dr FitzGerald paid tribute to former deputy leader and agriculture minister Ms Rodgers. Mr Durkan, former leader Mr John Hume, and representatives from the Department of Agriculture and the Ulster Farmers' Union praised her contribution to public life.
Dr FitzGerald began his remarks by paying tribute to Mr Hume who announced his retirement from representative politics earlier this month.
Referring to Mr Hume as "a giant of a man, recognised at home and abroad as Ireland's greatest statesman, he said: "Without his inspirational leadership Northern Ireland might not have survived the stresses and strains emanating from the violence unleashed by those who on either side rejected the path of democracy and mutual tolerance."
Turning to Ms Rodgers, Dr FitzGerald said: "I think it is more difficult today than in the past for nationalists in the two parts of our island to identify with each other - a development in which the alienating violence of the IRA has played a major role.
"Bríd Rodgers, herself a native of the Irish State, but deeply rooted in the Northern Ireland into which she married 44 years ago, has a special capacity, I believe, to pull the two nationalisms of our island closer together and to present to southern politicians a sympathetic picture of strife-torn Northern Ireland. We all owe her a debt of gratitude for what she contributed to that process. Only a special woman could combine so brilliantly and successfully the roles of mother of six children and leadership in politics in that most demanding of political environments - Northern Ireland.
"I'm afraid I made her role even more difficult by nominating her to Seanad Éireann in November 1982. But I was convinced that she was exceptionally well equipped to represent Northern nationalism in our State, at the very centre of our political system."