Issues

Dreaming big dreams

Reminiscing on past achievements and focusing on the challenges ahead was on the agenda at the annual SDLP conference. Meadhbh Monahan reports.

As the chords of ‘This is the one’ by the Stone Roses filled the hall in the Slieve Donard Hotel, SDLP leader of nine years Mark Durkan stepped down and was replaced by Margaret Ritchie, who is now the first female leader of a major Northern Ireland party.

This year’s SDLP conference “reinvigorated” some members of the party, but hints of ill-feeling were evident when some supporters of Ritchie’s opponent – South Belfast MP Alasdair McDonnell, who was defeated by 187 votes to 222 – didn’t immediately clap and get to their feet as their new leader was announced.

The 48-hour conference had 172 motions on the agenda as well as the leadership election, where an estimated 400 delegates cast their vote in a secret ballot. With prominent political figures

– such as SDLP’s John Hume, Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny – mixing with elderly SDLP members, the media, and the energetic SDLP youth (who sported ‘I’m with Alasdair’ t-shirts and brandished balloons stamped with pictures of Margaret Ritchie), the conference was a hectic one.

Durkan’s final speech as party leader saw the hall filled to capacity, and his powerful and emotional delivery resulted in him and many of his party colleagues wiping away tears.

He welcomed “the fact of a deal” on the devolution of policing and justice but, like the rest of the party, voiced his displeasure with the substance of the agreement, particularly the “veto” Sinn Féin “conceded” to the DUP which means that “no nationalist need apply” for the role of justice minister.

Since the 2007 Assembly election when the SDLP lost two seats and Sinn Féin gained four – the party has been struggling to regain lost support. This was partly acknowledged by Durkan who said: “I don’t deny or diminish the setbacks we have suffered. A united and focused SDLP is needed to deliver the sensible leadership people deserve and the progress they demand.”

He became emotional when he recalled sitting in the kitchen of Sarah Conlon, the mother of Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four, as Tony Blair read out a public apology on live TV.

Issues close to the party’s heart were mentioned: public services, childcare vouchers, 10p tax, the Presbyterian Mutual Society, the Human Rights Act, the bill of rights, 42-day detention and the war in Iraq.

Jibes were directed at other parties. Peter Robinson was “born again” as First Minister while the TUV’s Jim Allister was “the man who takes all the ‘fun’ out of fundamentalist,” and the UUP “seem to be lining up more partners than Tiger Woods.” Durkan didn’t forget Sinn Féin, where a vote is a “vote for empty seats, empty promises and empty gestures, not to mention empty flats.” And “if you want all sorts of change,” Durkan said: “vote Alliance because they have shown there is nothing they can’t change about themselves.”

Encouraging young people to join politics, Durkan said: “Do not allow frustration at poor politics and shallow dealing to repel you from democratic engagement. Instead let it impel your demand for proper politics, deeper principles and stronger leadership.” He also called for more SDLP MLAs, particularly women.

Again on the verge of tears, he recalled meeting Barack Obama, who wrote a note to Durkan’s five-year-old daughter Dearbháil encouraging her to “dream big dreams.” He insisted that Obama’s message is very relevant for the SDLP.

The mood at the conference was that Ritchie has big shoes to fill. Many attendees felt that McDonnell, in his final candidate speech, was more realistic about the party’s problems than her. The MP, who used to be a GP, spoke of his experience of giving bad news to patients. He issued a stark warning: “This patient needs to see it’s in danger for its life. This party faces very harsh choices, financial and otherwise.”

He continued: “We have drifted for too long, allowed ourselves to be taken for granted for too long and we have tolerated analysis and further analysis in place of action for too long.”

In contrast, Ritchie harkened to the achievements of Durkan and Hume, such as bringing about the Good Friday Agreement, and said she wanted the new peace bridge in Derry to be named the ‘Hume Bridge’.

She used the platform as a chance to attack Sinn Féin and the DUP calling them “a lousy government”. She referred to the Hillsborough Agreement as “a temporary fix based on the corruption of

democracy.” Ritchie challenged the First and deputy First Ministers to “remove the sectarian veto and end gerry-mandering.” As a result, she received a bigger applause than McDonnell.

After being elected as party leader, Ritchie said she would “rally the party around a vision that shows how we are different and better than our opponents,” but refused to clarify to the gathered media whether she would leave the Executive and her role as Minister for Social Development if Alliance were given the justice post.

The new deputy leader is Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone whose ‘tweets’ showed that he was enjoying the conference. From the conference dinner dance he tweeted: “Really great night. Good company, good food, great craic, and the night’s still young.”

South Belfast MLA Conall McDevitt said the conference was “one of the best” he could remember. For him, one of the most important motions was passed during the public affairs session where the Hillsborough Agreement was recognised but condemned because of “the discriminatory outcome, whereby a nationalist will never become a justice minister.” Despite this, he added the party wants to seek “common ground” with unionists in advance of the 2011 general election because the electorate want an

alternative to the stand-offs between the opposing parties at Stormont. McDevitt says this will be achieved through a “citizen-led initiative” called ‘Platform for Change’, which will bring together ordinary citizens to discuss issues such as education and sectarianism. The party’s health spokesman was also glad to see the number of lobby groups and NGOs “taking the opportunity to engage with as many public representatives, councillors and MLAs as possible.”

Twenty-five-year-old Maria McCarthy, who was co-opted into Ritchie’s Down District Council seat in June 2009, referred to Durkan as “an inspiration” and stated that “to be truly democratic and for a council to be fully representative you have to have people from all walks of life. A young person’s voice will bring a new dimension to it.”

In the conclusion of her victory speech, Ritchie said she wants the SDLP to “rise again” and revealed that she has ambitions to become First Minister. In doing so she has set herself high benchmarks because, as McDonnell told the conference, the SDLP is “in danger.” Unless Ritchie succeeds in regaining voters who moved to Sinn Féin as well as convincing new voters, those ambitions may not be realised.

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