SF/SDLP merger

Denis Bradley in today’s Irish News reckons that northern nationalists are feeling unloved and unwanted by both the British and Irish governments. He argues that a merger between Sinn Féin and the SDLP would boost nationalist morale though he admits it is unlikely at the moment. (That is, slightly, understating it!) He writes that the Irish government need to “devise and provide a comfort blanket to northern nationalism. If that means more representation in the Dáil and Senate then better it happen soon”. If it doesn’t, he argues, that it will create “a dangerous undertow”.