Hume: Send right message to Europe

Voters in Northern Ireland need to think what message it would send out to the rest of the European Union if the North elected Democratic Unionist and Sinn Féin MEPs, John Hume said today.

As his party continued its final push for votes for SDLP candidate Martin Morgan ahead of Thursday's poll, the former MEP claimed that the parties of Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley would lack any influence in Strasbourg and Brussels.

Stressing his party’s membership of the Party of European Socialists, the Foyle MP said the SDLP had the greatest influence of any party in Northern Ireland on the European Commission and in the European Parliament.

“Martin has been to Strasbourg and Brussels with me and has met the people I am talking about,” the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said.

“We will be still exercising that influence, so it is a commonsense vote to vote SDLP.

“If you vote for any of those other two parties, think about the image that would give to Northern Ireland – two major parties that were against membership of the European Union and in the European Parliament would not even be belonging to any group.”

Sinn Féin’s Bairbre de Brún is bidding under the proportional representation system for her party’s first European Parliament seat and hopes to do well as Northern Ireland’s second largest party.

But the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists are hoping their candidate, Jim Allister, will hold on to the title of Northern Ireland’s largest party after last November’s success in the Assembly Election.

It is widely expected that Mr Morgan will fight it out for Northern Ireland’s third seat with Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson.

However, supporters of independent candidate and former Ulster Farmers’ Union president John Gilliland insist he is also in the frame and, even if he doesn’t win, will at least determine where the seat goes.

Journalist Eamonn McCann is contesting the election for the Socialist Environmental Alliance while the Green Party is fielding former cross-community Alliance Party member Lindsay Whitcroft.

Although voters go to the polls on Thursday, Northern Ireland will be one of the last European regions to declare a result, with the count taking place in Belfast next Monday.

With speculation mounting that there will be greater apathy at the polls in Northern Ireland than ever before, Martin Morgan reminded voters disillusioned by the lack of an Assembly that they were voting for a functioning parliament in Strasbourg and Brussels.

“One of the messages that is coming across is that people are very frustrated about the lack of an Assembly, by suspension and no north-south bodies,” the north Belfast SDLP councillor said.

“But what has been reflected very clearly back by us is that we know what that feels like because we are a party which is trying to offer a short-term solution to end suspension, move the Agreement forward and re-establish the North South Ministerial Council.

“What we are clearly saying to people is that you do have a European Parliament that does not get suspended, that has active participation from the SDLP and that has delivered.

“The evidence is all around us – 15,000 projects funded in the north of Ireland, 3,500 organisations, our farmers, our fishing communities, our roads, our railways and our bridges.

“Every one of our lives is affected by it. So we are saying: ‘Yes, we accept your frustration, but look how we have made Europe work for everyone across the community and across the border as well’.”