Parties go North in recruitment drive
Labour next as FF trumps Sinn Fein in university challenge
It's open season for southern political parties in the North, as both Fianna Fail and Labour look across the border to extend their spheres of influence.
It has emerged that Fianna Fail took in four times as many new members last week as Sinn Fein on the campuses of Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster (UU) during its cross-border recruitment drive. It represents Fianna Fail's first big push there, the first step on the road to contesting local and national elections in Northern Ireland.
A Fianna Fail spokesman said: "This represents a major success for the party across the border. According to our people in the north, we took in 45 members in UU and over 80 new members in Queens.
''Across all of Ireland, during our recruitment drive in September we hope to add 2,000 new members to the party." Fianna Fail have also set up a high-level committee led by Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern to examine the idea of extending the party's representation into the North.
The issue of southern parties moving north will also be highlighted at this year's Labour Party conference in Wexford in November, when the party is to debate a motion calling for it to participate in elections there.
The motion, understood to be backed by frontbench Labour TDs and at least one senator, would, if passed, lead to the party participating in the forthcoming local government elections in Northern Ireland in 2009. It would be the first time since almost the foundation of the State that any Republic-based party contested elections in the North.
Labour has been leading the way on spreading its representation in the North, if only in a limited way. In 2001, it allowed Northern-based figures to become "headquarters" members, organising and recruiting, but not running in elections. Northern Labour party members now want to take this a step further.
The motion to run in elections is being put forward by Belfast-based Mark Langhammer, a long-time campaigner for a "third strand" in Northern politics, away from the ethnic/religious divide that has seen voters move to the DUP and Sinn Fein.
Labour's moves will increase pressure on Fianna Fail and could split the SDLP, elements of which have been clamouring for Fianna Fail to move North.
Senior figures in the SDLP were privately furious when Labour did a deal with Sinn Fein, allowing Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty a Seanad seat. This increased pressure within the SDLP to move towards an accord with Fianna Fail, with several figures within the SDLP advocating a deal.
According to party sources there would be a substantial majority of SDLP members keen on joining Fianna Fail if it was to organise in the North, particularly since Labour's Seanad pact with Sinn Fein.
Fine Gael insists that Fianna Fail's successes in the North have been "greatly overstated". A spokesman for the party said: "We have had a presence up North for a long time and we have a strong presence in the universities.
"Fianna Fail have made a lot of noise about organising up North, but they are not as organised as they seem."
See Fifth Column, Page 32
