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| SDLP to set up all-Ireland group | SDLP to set up all-Ireland group |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| The SDLP is to set up a working group to look at all-Ireland political links with other parties. | |
| Party leader Mark Durkan revealed the initiative in his speech to the party conference in Armagh. | |
| Irish Foreign Minister Dermon Ahern, who heads a group looking at an all-Ireland role for Fianna Fail, also addressed the conference. | |
| Ulster Unionist Basil McCrea also spoke, wishing the SDLP well for the future, "perhaps even a shared future". | |
| This followed the SDLP's Margaret Ritchie's address to the UUP conference last week. | |
| Links | Links |
| Fianna Fail's decision to look at moving north has not been welcomed by everyone in the SDLP. | Fianna Fail's decision to look at moving north has not been welcomed by everyone in the SDLP. |
| However, the group Mr Ahern heads is now expected to liase with the one announced by Mr Durkan. | |
| The review group is expected to report in a year. | The review group is expected to report in a year. |
| Mr Ahern told the conference: "Just as in the post-May scenario you need to look at what the future holds for your party, in Fianna Fail we are looking too. | |
| "In the new political dispensation, we do not believe there is any logic as to why we should not look northwards." | |
| Mr Durkan said the internal working group would look at a realignment of politics throughout Ireland. | |
| "As we engage with different parties and some outside party politics, we will be building on our own review discussions," he said. | |
| "An SDLP working group on all-Ireland politics and realignment will develop our thinking. | |
| Both for ourselves and with others, we need to create a coherentframework to consider all the relevant issues, implications and ideas." | |
| In September, the SDLP leader said that a possible merger between his party and Fianna Fail could not be ruled out. | In September, the SDLP leader said that a possible merger between his party and Fianna Fail could not be ruled out. |
| He was responding to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern who said his party was to organise in Northern Ireland for the first time. | He was responding to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern who said his party was to organise in Northern Ireland for the first time. |
| Paramilitarism | |
| Meanwhile, Margaret Ritchie, the social development minister, has told the conference that all paramilitrarism in Northern Ireland must end. | Meanwhile, Margaret Ritchie, the social development minister, has told the conference that all paramilitrarism in Northern Ireland must end. |
| Ms Ritchie, who recently withdrew £1.2m from a UDA-linked community regeneration fund, said the biggest problems facing many areas were anti-social behaviour, crime and paramilitarism. | |
| "In some respects, in terms of the peace process, this is the last piece of the jigsaw," she said. | |
| "That is why I have taken a firm stand in relation to the funding of projects linked to paramilitary groups. | "That is why I have taken a firm stand in relation to the funding of projects linked to paramilitary groups. |
| "It is simply time to move beyond the paramilitary era." | "It is simply time to move beyond the paramilitary era." |