THIS year’s SDLP conference, its first for two years and Colum Eastwood’s second as leader, was held in Titanic Belfast.
Analogies based on the venue’s association with maritime tragedy would be lazy yet it’s fair to say there was a slightly sombre atmosphere around the gathering, which fell almost to the day on the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Easter 1998 was a high point for the SDLP. The settlement paving the way for power-sharing was the most significant political landmark since the creation of Northern Ireland almost a century ago.
If any party can lay claim to the accord then it is the SDLP, whose then leader John Hume spent his political career building towards it.
Yet the price the party paid for helping deliver a lasting, if imperfect, peace has been costly in electoral terms – its share of the vote has halved since 1998.
Sinn Féin eclipsed the SDLP as the foremost voice of nationalism in the north in the 2003 Stormont election, though it took a further decade-and-a-half to wipe out its rival at Westminster.
While the SDLP’s dwindling assembly representation was always a concern, it was last June’s loss of three MPs – all past leaders – that dealt the hardest blow to party morale.
They have kept a brave face and displayed a solid front but privately there must be plenty of soul searching.
There’s no lack of confidence in the leadership pairing of Colum Eastwood and Nichola Mallon but it appears that for all the party’s broader energy and talent the plan for reversing the SDLP’s fortunes relies too much on hope.
Many believe the best chance of survival lies in merging with Fianna Fáil, a strategy that would dovetail with Micheál Martin’s pledge to run candidates in next year’s local government election.
It was the elephant in the room at the conference and some were even talking of an “end game”.
Publicly it was barely mentioned, just talk of the need for “conversations” about “the realignment of Irish politics”.
However, the lack of substance and fresh ideas aired at the conference highlighted how without a major reboot the SDLP is likely to be extinct within a decade.
It’s clearly a dilemma many members would rather not confront but like the party’s forthcoming decision to review its abortion policy at a special conference next month, fast-changing circumstances demand a different approach.
There are challenging times ahead for the SDLP and the current political upheaval across these islands makes its task all the more urgent.
Twenty years after delivering its key project, the party needs to confront some uncomfortable truths and concede that it is not indestructible. Otherwise it may sink without trace.
