GUEST SPEAKER:FORMER LABOUR leader Ruairí Quinn, speaking on behalf of guests from other parties and fraternal delegates, commended Mark Durkan for his leadership and the SDLP's continued links with Labour and other parties in the Republic.
He and his party particularly wanted to see European candidate Alban Maginness representing Northern Ireland in Brussels and Strasbourg.
John Hume was “much missed at the Party of European Socialists – from Estonia to Portugal, Cyprus to Ireland”, he added. The European Peace funds, in place since the Belfast Agreement, was Mr Hume’s abiding legacy, he added. “The SDLP needs its seat back.
“The EU is the base on which we can rebuild shattered economies, and hopes and for people living on the margins. SDLP is the most European-positive party in this part of the island,” he said, adding that he knew SDLP support in the second Lisbon referendum could be counted on.
Mr Quinn dismissed claims by Sinn Féin and others that a second referendum was undemocratic: “I take no lessons from SF on that one,” he said. “We have listened to people’s concerns,” he said, “and we have acted.”
On the international financial crisis, Mr Quinn said: “Capitalism is broken; the financial structure of capitalism is broken.”
He noted former tánaiste Mary Harney’s claim that in one way Ireland was closer to Boston than to Berlin. “The savage reality is that there is no such choice – it’s now Rome or Reykjavik. We don’t want to be drowning off the west coast outside the euro zone.”