SDLP And Fianna Fáil Enter 'Historical' Policy Partnership

The SDLP has partnered with the Republic of Ireland's Fianna Fáil in an "unprecedented" programme of public engagement.

The collaboration was announced in Belfast on Thursday 24 January, as the parties pledged to work together on common issues in a bid to reignite efforts to resolve the power-sharing crisis at Stormont.

Party leaders Colum Eastwood, an MLA for L'Derry, and Fianna Fáil's Micheal Martin promised a politics that will move to unite Ireland's people amid the ongoing Brexit turmoil and perceived threat to North/South cooperation.

Mr Eastwood said: "Our parties are determined to work together to try and change the failure our politics lies frozen in.

"We will not do so by gestures or gimmicks or through photo opportunities. Instead we will do it through a focus on policy and issues, not party or sectarian positioning.

"Both the SDLP and Fianna Fail have agreed to work in partnership on an unprecedented programme of public engagement in Northern Ireland which can help frame an ambitious and practical agenda for the future of this island and our people."

The Republican party's leader Micheal Martin said there is a crisis in Northern Ireland which requires immediate action to pave a new way forward.

"The achievements of the Good Friday Agreement have been immense and deserve to be celebrated," he explained.

"Unfortunately the reality is that today there is a deep and pervasive crisis which is causing far too many people to lose faith in politics and to believe that progress is impossible. This is a crisis which has been made worse by Brexit but has been steadily growing for most of the last decade.

Mr Martin continued that the region remains the least developed on these islands and "contains pockets of entrenched poverty" which require serious development.

"We believe that it is the duty of all who seek to represent the people to try and find a new way forward and not to accept that this destructive cycle will continue.

"It was against this background that a discussion was begun a year ago with the SDLP about how we could cooperate."

Fianna Fáil also made a statement on Twitter, saying that the SDLP is a "non-sectarian party which has proven time and time again that it puts people before politics".

"Its heroes are our heroes. This is why we are very happy to agree the partnership."



(JG/CM)