Alliance say the opening of a new office in Derry is a statement of intent for the party west of the Bann, where it has historically struggled.
Rachael Ferguson and Philip McKinney, who at the last council election became the first Alliance candidates elected in Derry since the 1980s, sat down with Belfast Live at their soon-to-open new office and set out their plans to build on the foothold established in the city during the 'surge' of 2019.
Fresh from their party conference at the weekend, the pair are confident the 2019 result won't prove to be a blip.
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"It’s a stronghold here for Sinn Fein and the SDLP," councillor Ferguson said. "It’s the birthplace of People Before Profit. There is a huge political legacy here with people like John Hume and Eamonn McCann. People have always stayed in their zones, but I think the younger generation in particular are looking for that non orange and green politics. They are seeing it in Alliance."
Situated on the Carlisle Road beside a Presbyterian Church, in the shadow of artist Maurice Harron's iconic 'hands across the divide' sculpture on the western end of the Craigavon bridge, the office was full of bustle as rennovations continued for the planned opening next month.
Joined by longstanding party member and former Assembly candidate Colm Cavanagh, the two councillors explained that the office in Derry won't be the only one opening west of the Bann in the near future.
"This has been a long campaign of Colm’s to have an office here no matter what," Ms Ferguson said. "It shows our intentions - we are here to stay. The next one [new office] is going to be in Omagh. It’s a signal of intent for the North West and the West. We have nothing from Ballymoney until here, so we had this huge gap."
Asked why Alliance has historically struggled in Derry, she said: "Colm would say to you that it was during the conflict that things became very fractured. And growing up in the city, Alliance was always seen as a Belfast party. I think it took the likes of Naomi [Long, party leader since 2016] saying ‘I want to make this breakthrough’ and not just throwing people into positions, parachuting people in. She wanted to find grassroots people."
Councillor McKinney, gesturing out the window towards the Foyle, said the failure of Alliance to win elections in Derry first "happened during the hunger strikes". He added: "This city is divided. It used to be divided by that river. People are moving away from that. They want change."
Mr Cavanagh, meanwhile, looked ahead to the forthcoming council elections: “We want to have a candidate in all seven DEAs [district electoral areas]. In fact, the party wants to have a candidate in all DEAs across Northern Ireland."
Rachael Ferguson said: “The biggest push this year is going to be in Mid Ulster because it’s the one council left where we don’t have anybody. We want to get that final one. But in Derry our aim is to hold on to what we have and hopefully build on it.
"The day that I got elected was a shock to the whole system. I had only been in the party a few months and we got two seats. It was the first time in 38 years that we had councillors in the North West. Colm would always have told me they lost their councillors at around the time of the hunger strikes, a time when things got really divisive. So for us it was a huge, huge success.
"I think it was also a particularly good result for the likes of Stephen Donnelly in Omagh because he had tried for five or six years to get elected. Not only did we make it here, but he made it there.
"We want to build on that."
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