Members of the SDLP at their annual conference in Belfast at the weekend pledged themselves to regroup and reorganise, following the traumatic outcome of last November's Assembly elections when the party lost six seats and was replaced by Sinn Féin as the largest nationalist party in the North.
It was a difficult and sometimes subdued conference as members sought direction and reassurance and wondered at the electorate's failure to reward the political creativity and hard work that had been provided by the SDLP during the last 33 years.
Party leader, Mr Mark Durkan, identified the need for a root-and-branch reform of the organisation so as to compete more effectively with Sinn Féin. In a well-received speech to 500 members, he spoke of recruiting a new generation of activists and of ensuring that the strengths of the party were properly utilised.
The party, which has been the standard-bearer of constitutional nationalism in Northern Ireland and the main architect of the Belfast Agreement, is still an immensely important rallying point for those democrats who reject the ambivalence of Sinn Féin to the activities of its military wing.
The need for such a voice was emphasised last Friday when police in Belfast arrested four men who had abducted and assaulted a man associated with the "Real" IRA. Those detained were identified by the Police Service of Northern Ireland as being involved in a Provisional IRA operation. Such activity is anathema in any democracy and directly conflicts with the conditions set down by both the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, for the inclusion of Sinn Féin in government. It represents nothing less than a breach of the IRA's commitment to a cessation of violence.
The incident sets out in stark terms the imperative of ending all paramilitary activity. In the new political dispensation that has been created by the Assembly elections, the clearest sign that the IRA is committed to peace would be for Sinn Féin to join the Policing Board.
The importance the British Government attaches to this incident may become apparent today when the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, meets representatives of Sinn Féin to review the working of the Belfast Agreement. The Democratic Unionist Party is in no doubt about where it stands. While such distrust exists, there is no prospect of re-establishing an executive. In those circumstances, there is a pressing need for a party with the proud record of the SDLP to work at shaping the political future of this island.