“The SDLP is not for sale”

“The SDLP is not for sale”. Mark Durkan’s words (full statement here) this afternoon at the party’s youth conference will surely cast doubt over the inevitability of an early merger with any party in the South, including Fianna Fail.

I dropped in on the conference firstly to congratulate Cllr Niall Kelly, a friend, on becoming the youngest councillor on Belfast City Council when he succeeded Carmel Hanna this week and secondly, to hear what Mark had to say.

SDLP Youth is, as you would expect, the most radical part of the SDLP. No surprise then that they passed motions calling for more integrated education, the lifting of the Cuban trade embargo, supporting the rights of Guantanamo detainees to a fair trail and demanding the Republic’s Government to introduce a civil partnership bill.

As it happens many of its members are also vocal in their opposition to a merger with Fianna Fail.

Was Durkan playing to the gallery when he acclaimed the SDLP as a republican, social democratic and internationalist party before declaring that the party and its principles were not for sale? Only time will tell but with the RTE cameras rolling and Tommie Gorman hovering his words are bound to get some traction.

The All Ireland Review Group get an hour in private session with the younger members this evening. Me thinks they will call on the elder statesmen to report that the SDLP is the future. These do strike a group of young people who see no future for the SDLP.