The leader of Fine Gael, Enda Kenny, came to Newry yesterday to throw his weight behind the SDLP in advance of the elections on 7th March. He was met by party activists at Newry Railway Station and joined SDLP Leader Mark Durkan MP, SDLP Deputy Leader Alasdair McDonnell MP, and Newry and Armagh incumbent candidate for the Assembly Dominic Bradley for a tour of small businesses at WIN business park. While there, they called into the newly launched radio station Five FM.
After that, they boarded the election bus and headed for the Canal Court Hotel in the city centre, where Kenny was the keynote speaker at a meeting of around 100 Newry SDLP branch members. The event was centred around the party's North South Makes Sense campaign. The Fine Gael leader emphasised his support for the SDLP and its election campaign, and spoke strongly in favour of building greater north-south co-operation.
A couple of weeks back, Bertie Ahern attended another SDLP North South Makes Sense event in Dublin. Whichever one of them is Taoiseach after the next election in the south, it's quite clear from their support for this campaign that the SDLP is driving forward the North-South agenda and can deliver best on that front. Reunification isn't about running a flag up a pole every so often and doing nothing constructive, but is about creating the circumstances whereby the removal of partition is both attractive and beneficial to everyone on both sides of the border- that is a better way to a better Ireland and the SDLP is the only party that can deliver.
This video of the evening is about five minutes long, so you'll probably need broadband to access it.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny Backs The SDLP
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6 comments:
anything in sdlp's efforts to attract the votes of those of us from NI's Protestant community....or is it simply a fight with Sinn fein for the RC vote which you concern yourselves with (by trying to out-green them)?
Sorry iluvni, I fail to understand the point you're trying to make.
Yes indeed.
Would you ever vote for SF or SDLP even if they did?
What would they have to do to attract the Protestant community to the cause of national unity?
I've given sdlp candidates higher preference votes than Unionists before...and would always have given them a preference to assist their fight against Sinn fein.
Now, I cant see any reason whatsoever to give them anything. I've debated here on elblogador over the months and find the responses thoroughly offputting! Is there a difference between sdlp and Sinn fein?...not really sure any more. Much as I despise Sinn fein, I find them more credible as a party than sdlp. Look at that pathetic stunt today at MI5 Headquarters. What in the name of fuck was that all about? Totally pathetic.
By trying to be out-green SF, and their recent record of standing by a pan-Nationalist position instead of working with moderate Unionism, they've done us all a disservice over the last few years.
I assume they'll suffer badly this coming election. Cant say I care.
iluvni-
The SDLP is a nationalist party- it has no reason to avoid this fact. What exactly is your problem with that? The difference with SF is that the SDLP has always been consistent in what it said and did, and wants to bring about a united Ireland by agreement rather than though violence. The SDLP has no need to 'out-green' SF, as the SDLP's position on reunification has always been a lot stronger than SF's- the latter retarded any move for a united Ireland by blowing Protestants out of any possible acceptance of it.
And what do you mean by this 'recent record' of standing by pan-nationalism instead of working with moderate unionism? If anything, the UUP and SDLP have come closer together as the former has decided to focus on more day-to-day issues. Makes a change from a few years ago when Trimble said UUP voters should transfer to other unionist parties, despite the fact that said parties wanted to destroy the GFA.
Happy belated birthday! I turned 30 this year, so it was a big one.
Signed,
http://www.gradin.com
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