The risk of a split in the SDLP if it merges with Fianna Fail is a factor being considered in ongoing negotiations between the parties, Micheal Martin has said.

The Fianna Fail leader said “steady and substantive” talks with the SDLP continued, as he stressed the historical links between the parties.

Fielding questions on the state of merger negotiations during a visit to Belfast, Mr Martin was asked if he was concerned that an electoral pact might trigger a split in the SDLP.

He replied: “We are taking everything into consideration.”

Mr Martin was on his first visit to Northern Ireland since a controversy in Omagh last month, when senior party figures unveiled a Fianna Fail “candidate” for next year’s local council election without the approval of the leadership.

The party leader made clear that the actions of TD Eamon O’Cuiv, Senator Mark Daly and councillor Sorcha McAnespy, who was announced as a candidate, were “wrong” and lessons had been learned.

Fianna Fail SDLP talks
Eamon O’Cuiv TD (left), councillor Sorcha McAnespy and Senator Mark Daly at her controversial “candidate launch” in Omagh in October (PA)

Mr O’Cuiv and Mr Daly were subsequently sacked from front bench positions for their role in the episode, but Mr Martin declined to be drawn on whether Ms McAnespy had also been disciplined.

“What happened in Omagh was wrong, I have made that very clear, I have taken action,” he said.

“No one can self-declare as a candidate or self-declare as a director of elections – that’s very clear.

“I have met with Mark Daly and Eamon on that and I think there is no disagreement on that.”

Asked whether action would be taken against councillor McAnespy, he replied: “The action we have taken, there has been a lot of discussions around it, what happened.

“I think people have understood and learned lessons from it in terms of how to proceed into the future.”

Fianna Fail and SDLP merger talks
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin (left) and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood are engaged in talks about a potential electoral merger in Northern Ireland (PA)

Some within the SDLP – a social democratic party – are unhappy at the prospect of joining forces with Fianna Fail, a party traditionally with a more conservative outlook.

Mr Martin, who was in Belfast to participate in a Brexit conference at Queen’s University, said: “We have been in talks with the SDLP for quite some time and there have been a series of meetings and an exchange of documents.

“This is a very significant issue in itself and demands substantive consideration. We are in a process, I respect that process.

“I have to respect that process – it is between two parties – but there has been steady and substantive engagement between the SDLP and Fianna Fail on this.”

Mr Martin added: “Historically, Fianna Fail have been very strong supporters of the SDLP. Many of our parliamentarians on the border would have gone over to campaign in various elections, so there is a strong relationship there, prior to any of this latest phase and initiative.”

He said Northern Ireland required a “new political agenda”.

“We have done a lot of work on this and it seems to us that there’s been an over-concentration on the constitutional issues in some respects and less of a concentration on the bread and butter issues that matter to people in every electorate and that applies to Northern Ireland as well,” he said.

“And it seems to us that there is a middle ground in Northern Ireland whose voice has not been heard and the needs of many citizens in Northern Ireland are not being responded to by the current political construct.”