Future alliances:Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said on the margins of the SDLP conference that Fianna Fáil should be looking at some form of political realignment on the island of Ireland.
With the SDLP currently considering the possibility of some form or political arrangement with Fianna Fáil, Mr Ahern told reporters in Armagh that Fianna Fáil was carefully and strategically examining whether and how it might organise in Northern Ireland.
He was unable to say how this realignment might take place - whether through some form of possible merger with the SDLP or Fianna Fáil standing alone in Northern Ireland - as this was a matter of consultation with party grassroots between now and Easter.
He said Fianna Fáil would also consult with civic society in the Republic and Northern Ireland on the way forward. He agreed with the comments of Eamon de Valera in 1926 that Fianna Fáil should not be a "26-county party".
"There is no political logic as to why we should not look northward," said Mr Ahern, particularly, he added, considering the new political landscape in the North with the achievement of the powersharing Executive in May.
"May 8th has changed the landscape. It would be remiss of us if we were not to look to the possibilities of in some way representing Fianna Fáil voices in Northern Ireland," he said.
"We should be looking to political realignment in some shape or form, and that is what we are about in our party," he said outside the conference hall.
Minister for Social Development Margaret Ritchie, of the SDLP, told the conference it would be a mistake to lock the party into a fixed position on any potential arrangement with Fianna Fáil. "It is time for clear heads and strategic thinking," Ms Ritchie said.
