Madam, - Further to Jonathan Stephenson's letter of December 3rd, I feel there are things that need to be said about the SDLP following the recent elections in Northern Ireland.
When I hear talk of a merger with Fianna Fáil I am reminded of the now immortal words of Andrew Bonar Law: "I must follow them; I am their leader". They sum up the philosophy of Fianna Fáil, as well as that of the DUP and Sinn Féin for, despite their public utterances, the DUP and Sinn Féin eagerly tapped the underlying sectarianism within both communities and "followed" their people to electoral triumph.
But who are they following? Does everyone in the nationalist community want to reward the IRA for stopping what they should never have started and does every member of the unionist community want to turn their back on what a new Ireland can offer? The answer is obviously No, which is why I say now is surely a time for leadership, not for following.
When I say leadership I mean vision, I mean integrity, I mean stability.
I mean the vision that will take us to the New Ireland that now lies within a generation of us all - an Ireland where national identity is accepted, where unity of people is a reality, where institutions of government in Northern Ireland and on the island are functioning and serving.
I mean the integrity that will make talk of unity sound like an opportunity for everyone in Northern Ireland and not like a threat, that will ensure unionists can run schools and nationalists our police service without the ghost of conspiracy hanging over them. I mean the stability that will deliver accountable government and progressive government for everyone.
The SDLP is the one party that transcends the Border, offering a united and agreed vision of the New Ireland. By having stayed independent of all the constitutional nationalist parties on this island, it has forged an alliance which speaks for over 90 per cent of the people of the Republic of Ireland and for the majority of Northern nationalists. We are a centre-left society with a strong sense of community and public service, something the SDLP has tapped into in the past and must reconnect with in the years ahead. We are also a travelling people with branches in every continent and a diaspora many times bigger than those now at home.
The SDLP has no baggage, no guns, no so-called war heroes. But while it lacks a certain whiff of sulphur it has vision and energy and the courage to lead. It doesn't need to be part of Fianna Fáil to have a future. Why should it hook up with the past when it so obviously stands for a future that is yet to be realised? - Yours, etc.,
CONALL McDEVITT,
(SDLP Director of
Communications, 1996-1999),
The Orchard,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.