SDLP warned southern merger could lead to break-up

Northern Ireland’s nationalist SDLP could fragment if it merges with another political party in the Irish Republic, it was warned today.

Sinn Fein national chairman Mitchel McLaughlin claimed the SDLP was a ‘‘coalition’’ of people in Northern Ireland whose political allegiances would be split between Bertie Ahern’s Fianna Fail, Opposition Fine Gael and Labour if they were living in the Irish Republic.