Madam, - I would welcome Fianna Fáil following in Labour's footsteps and organising in the North.
As a lifelong SDLP member I looked on with concern as Labour delivered representation for Sinn Féin in the Seanad and appears to have agreed to share Dáil speaking time with a party of which Pat Rabbitte said before the election: "Hard-working families who pay their taxes don't want the policies of the next government to be dictated by Sinn Féin."
From a Northern nationalist perspective I see a Fianna Fáil-led Government investing in Northern Ireland as a core element of the National Development Plan, while Labour and Sinn Féin (all in the national interest!) have pledged to overturn Aer Lingus's decision to relocate to Belfast. The DUP no longer fears southern involvement in Northern affairs and I have no doubt it will rise to any new political challenge.
A political future cannot be built solely between the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP; each must decide on their own path and then work with all the parties in the executive. As a nationalist, my core belief remains that a united Ireland is in all our interests and will be best achieved on an SDLP/Fianna Fáil axis which is open and honest about its beliefs, can treat unionists with dignity and respect and can build a dynamic all-Ireland economy. - Yours, etc,
JUSTIN McCAMPHILL, Dunloy, Co Antrim.
A Chara, - Fianna Fáil's move to reorganise in the North is both a welcome and a natural progression, and simply takes up where it left off in 1933 when Eamon de Valera was elected MP for South Down. With political violence hopefully consigned to history, all parties on this island should now start to take the cautious first steps in preparation for eventual reunification, whenever that may be.
Partition in 1921 was always seen as a temporary, awkward and unviable solution, and - contrary to the comments of some of your more cynical correspondents - Fianna Fáil has never believed it will be permanent. The normalisation of relations between all parties in Ireland and the removal of any threats of coercion into either one state or another has given back to the Irish people, for the first time in centuries, the freedom to examine their options and to determine with whom they will share their future. In that context it would be unthinkable for Fianna Fáil not to be part of this conversation, providing political leadership in every single county, North and South.
Far from splintering the nationalist vote, there is every reason to believe that a merged SDLP/Fianna Fáil would revitalise moderate nationalism, with large-scale defections from Sinn Féin - as observed in the election in May - cementing its position as the North's foremost persuader for unity.
With nationalist parties also dominating the Welsh and Scottish parliaments, and the United Kingdom's days as a political entity numbered, the writing to a large extent is on the wall. That FF is moving first may not suit the agenda of some people, but should anyone really be surprised? - Is mise,
DAVID CARROLL, Castle Gate, Dublin 2.