Fianna Fáil plans to recruit new members at Northern Ireland universities have been scrapped.
Members of Ogra Fianna Fáil, had planned to man a stall this week at Magee College in Derry. But a spokesman in the students' union at the University of Ulster in the city confirmed that plans had been changed at the last minute ahead of tomorrow's freshers' event.
"We had been approached during the summer about the possibility of Ogra Fianna Fáil having a stall," he said.
"We have just been informed that that will now not go ahead."
It would have been the first time a party from the Irish Republic had openly recruited at a Northern Ireland university.
It would also have added further fuel to speculation that the party is considering setting up branches in Northern Ireland after the next Assembly election.
At the last Fianna Fail conference, delegates backed a motion that the party should organise north of the border.
There is some support among the SDLP grass roots for a formal link up with Fianna Fáil as the Northern Ireland party struggles to cope the electorate competition for nationalist votes from Sinn Féin.
A spokeswoman for Fianna Fáil denied the party had planned a recruiting drive at universities north of the border.
"We have never been present in any of the Northern colleges over the years," she said.
PA