Northern Ireland

SDLP and Fianna Fáil brought together by Brexit and Stormont crisis

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood will address the Fianna Fáil ard fheis today. Picture by Liam McBurney/PA Wire
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood will address the Fianna Fáil ard fheis today. Picture by Liam McBurney/PA Wire SDLP leader Colum Eastwood will address the Fianna Fáil ard fheis today. Picture by Liam McBurney/PA Wire

BREXIT and the collapse of the Stormont institutions were the catalyst for the partnership between Colum Eastwood and Micheál Martin, the SDLP leader will today tell the Fianna Fáil ard fheis.

Speaking in Dublin at the Republic's main opposition party's 79th annual conference, Mr Eastwood will stress how he believes the collapse of devolution and the outworkings of the EU referendum result are intertwined.

Last month the two parties announced a 'policy partnership' that was later endorsed by SDLP members. However, the formalisation of links has prompted South Belfast MLA Claire Hanna to resign her post as SDLP Brexit spokeswoman in opposition to the move, while Belfast councillor Tim Attwood says he will not stand for re-election in May's local government elections.

On Thursday, the two leaders issued a joint statement urging Ireland's pro-Remain parties to form an alliance to tackle the negative impact of Britain's withdrawal from the EU.

Mr Martin last night told The Irish News that his party was looking forward to welcoming the SDLP leader.

"This is an important opportunity for our members to engage with our new partners in the north," he said.

"Colum is playing an important role in our discussion on Brexit and will be feeding into our policy development."

Mr Eastwood is expected to tell today's ard fheis at the Citywest Hotel that while Northern Ireland did note vote for Brexit, it must deal with its consequences.

"No-one should be in any doubt - the instability of Brexit and the instability faced by the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement are inextricably linked,” Mr Eastwood will say.

"The only people who will actually end up delivering that backstop are the hardened Brexiteers, ideologically determined to inflict economic self-harm - anything short of these proposals, any hardening of the border, will be a deliberate violation of our political process by the British government."

The SDLP leader will say the 1998 accord is "sovereign" and that only the people of Ireland have the right to change it.

He will say how discussions between himself and Mr Martin were a response to "deepening division and crisis in our politics".

"Those early conversations came as a direct result of the Brexit referendum result and the collapse of our institutions in the north – our engagement since then has always focused on how we collectively respond to the defining change which the politics of these islands are currently experiencing," Mr Eastwood will say.

"As political leaders, we have thought deeply as to how best to respond and act right now -and how best we respond and act for the generations to come."

:: Yesterday we ran a story saying Heather Wilson was the first woman from a Protestant background to stand for the SDLP. In fact, Dorita Field, who came from a Protestant family in South Africa, was elected to Belfast City Council for the party in 1989 and 1993.