The SDLP and Fianna Fáil are open to the idea of a closer political association - but not just yet, writes Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor.
May 8th, 2007, marked more than the return of devolution to Stormont, it seems. It may sound lofty, but there is some substance to the claim that a "new politics" is taking shape.
Such a new dispensation covers more than the entente between the DUP and Sinn Féin, although that is the obvious starting point.
But with all the major players in the North now playing by consensus rules a whole range of possibilities have emerged.
We now know these include a potential link-up between the SDLP and Fianna Fáil, possibly to the advantage of both.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan makes the point well: "We now have the possibility of new alignment within Northern politics and on a North-South basis."
But on talk of an eventual merger between Fianna Fáil and his own ranks, he adds somewhat cautiously: "We don't want to pursue either at the expense of the other, because both are part of the positive change of opening up the new political landscape."
The Irish Times understands that the SDLP leader's welcome for the Taoiseach's announcement of intent to organise north of the Border followed some urging from senior party figures at Monday's meeting of the Assembly group at Stormont.
His statement claimed the SDLP was "the architect of the agreed Ireland which has now at last come to pass," and it repeated his line, used since he became leader, "that this new Ireland would bring realignment and exciting change in Irish politics, both between North and South and within the North".
In keeping with his predecessors, Durkan avoids talk of formal mergers in the near future with any of the main Southern parties, preferring to allude to incremental change within the context brought about by the Belfast Agreement.
"As a true republican party, we believe that the social and economic interests of the people of the entire island are best served by ever-deepening co-operation between North and South," he said.
"We anticipate a healthy and forward-looking debate as a means to forging a new political path for the whole country."
So what's in it for him and, more importantly, what's in it for Fianna Fáil? SDLP members are sensitive to Sinn Féin jibes that they, like Fianna Fáil, seek a unified Ireland yet are organised on a partitionist basis.
That, for some Northern nationalists, is incoherent. Add to that the logic of the latest election results on both sides of the Border.
In the Dáil election, Fianna Fáil held off a Sinn Féin advance and there is a sense of wanting to take the fight to them in the Border constituencies where republicans still polled well. Countering Sinn Féin's all-Ireland-ism through a strategic alliance of sorts with the SDLP could help in that task.
The Assembly election this year was a bruising one for the SDLP which lost seats and morale. Edging closer to the mutually beneficial arrangement with Fianna Fáil provides a sense of direction and no little added backbone as future electoral battles with Sinn Féin loom.
Sinn Féin senses this and has reacted by offering only two cheers for what it sees as a Fianna Fáil U-turn on all-Ireland organisation.
But what appears as an opportunity for FF and the SDLP spells danger for Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey, who vociferously attacked Fianna Fáil talk of organising in the North, comparing it to a carelessly lobbed hand grenade.
For him the very suggestion of cross-Border political organisation is dangerously destabilising for the new Stormont set-up.
His broadsides, aimed at the Taoiseach, contrast with the "it's got nothing to do with me" attitude of First Minister Ian Paisley who, perhaps judiciously, is taking a longer view.
A range of senior SDLP members, contacted by The Irish Times, go along with their leader's evolution rather than revolution position. Durkan has said any move which is "false or forced" isn't a good basis for doing anything.
But while some treat the term "merger" in the same tone as they would greet "abolition", others talk easily off the record about merger and the choice of a potential partner. They admit that talk of merger is linked with a sense of an uncertain future within the SDLP.
The SDLP remains linked not just to the Irish Labour Party, but to a host of social democratic parties across Europe and beyond. For some members, this is an article of faith while for others any Fianna Fáil tendency towards centre-left politics is good enough and there are no socialist links formed in the past that cannot be "reviewed".
One member claimed it would be difficult to guess which way members would go in a straight choice of closer associations with either Fianna Fáil or Labour.
Another significant figure referred to the importance of personalities. Many in the SDLP felt closer to Fine Gael under Garret Fitz-Gerald and Peter Barry. They now feel a greater affinity to Bertie Ahern and Durkan's ally Brian Cowen while admitting they are less inclined to identify themselves as Labour supporters following the departure of Ruairí Quinn.
But Durkan decries all notion of explosive developments, looking instead to grander and more distant scenarios. For him, the talk is of "ripening" opportunities in the future. In the immediate future the "bigger priorities" which include the bedding down of the Good Friday institutions take precedence.
The message is: expect significant change - but not for a while.