Fianna Fáil group to assess SDLP merger

THE possibility of Fianna Fáil merging with the SDLP will be examined by a new committee, the Taoiseach is expected to announce today.

The group will be charged with assessing the future of the party over the next nine years.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern will chair the committee, which will work on the theme of Fianna Fáil 2016 and investigate ways in which the party can become an all-Ireland, 32-county party.

The SDLP, which holds 16 seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly, is thought to be the party with which Fianna Fáil would favour an alliance.

In his keynote address to the party, which holds its annual think-in in Druids Glen, Co Wicklow, today, Bertie Ahern is expected to inform members that the committee will hold discussions both north and south.

Former adviser on political strategy to Tony Blair Matthew Taylor will address the party, in addition to chief economist Robbie Kelleher and Finance Minister Brian Cowen.

Concentrating on how to sustain the Irish economy today, the theme will tomorrow change to caring about communities and planning for people.

Dr Tony Bates of the National Centre for Youth Mental Health, Mary Davis of Special Olympics Ireland and John Fitzgerald of the Grangegorman Development Agency will address the conference.

Other topics for discussion during the closed session will be the 2009 elections.

The ongoing controversy surrounding Aer Lingus’s withdrawal of its Shannon-Heathrow service is likely to be discussed ahead of a private members’ motion from Fine Gael and Labour calling on the Government to intervene.