Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

On the contrary, my position as Minister for Foreign Affairs with responsibility for Northern Ireland affairs and cross-Border co-operation would be enhanced by my party's consideration of a move across the Border. When my party was founded, de Valera on many occasions stated it should never be a 26-county party. As I recently stated publicly, a northern Unionist mentioned to the Taoiseach that it would not be logical for a party like Fianna Fáil to continue to be a 26-county party if we espouse a united Ireland, which we do.

From that perspective, such a move is quite logical given that the political landscape has changed very dramatically since 8 May. Substantial numbers of people wish to join my political party across the Border and at a recent university freshers' week, we were inundated with applications from people from both communities within Northern Ireland to join my political party.

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