Constituency profile/South Down: The battle between the SDLP's Eddie McGrady and Caitríona Ruane of Sinn Féin has been soured by a leaked NIO memo, writes Deaglán de Bréadún.
No quarter is being asked and none given in a hard-fought battle for the nationalist vote in South Down. They may belong to different generations but Eddie McGrady, the sitting MP, of the SDLP and Sinn Féin's Caitríona Ruane are both seasoned professionals.
McGrady won his place in the history of Northern Ireland elections when he wrested the seat from the maverick Tory intellectual, the late Enoch Powell in 1987. He is known for his "Big Tent" approach to politics, a man who "gets to voters other SDLP candidates can't reach".
When he failed to stand in the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly two years ago, there was speculation McGrady was about to retire, like his party colleagues John Hume and Séamus Mallon. But whereas Mallon's departure leaves Sinn Féin in a strong position to pick up Newry-Armagh, McGrady's people are determined that the republicans will not have it easy in South Down.
Without McGrady on the list, the SDLP's Assembly representation in South Down went down from three to two. Even more ominously from the party's viewpoint, the high-profile Ruane had won a seat for Sinn Féin. But a stubborn determination not to cede the constituency to the republicans has seen McGrady take to the hustings once again. Caitríona Ruane is best known for her campaigning role on behalf of the so-called "Colombia Three", the Irishmen accused of training Colombia's FARC guerrillas in IRA bomb-making techniques.
A native of Castlebar, Co Mayo, Ruane was a full-time professional tennis-player, and member of the Irish senior women's team, who played against the likes of Czech star Hana Mandlikova, a Wimbledon finalist. She spent several years on voluntary work in Central America in the mid-80s before going to Belfast in 1988 as full-time co-ordinator at the Centre for Research and Documentation, a body engaged in human rights and conflict-resolution work. Later, for five years, she was director of Féile an Phobail, the West Belfast festival, and organised the first city-wide St Patrick's Day parade in Belfast, which has now become an annual event.
Although clearly republican-minded, she only joined Sinn Féin two years ago. Her rise in the party has been rapid: she is spokeswoman on human rights and equality and, as a member of the Sinn Féin negotiating team, has taken part in the talks at Leeds Castle as well as Downing Street and Dublin.
There is speculation she could be a minister in a future power-sharing administration.
The current South Down contest went from sharp to bitter when a Northern Ireland Office (NIO) memo was leaked to the media in which a senior NIO official reported that McGrady opposed John Hume's strategy of working with Gerry Adams in the early stages of the peace process.
He was reported in the memo as believing the strategy was "elevating Sinn Féin/PIRA to a position of respectability they do not deserve". The summary of the conversation between NIO official Chris McCabe and McGrady about the 1994 Hume-Adams talks said: "More than once he described them [Sinn Féin] as the 'scum of the earth'." McGrady says the NIO document was confidential and "was stolen and leaked". It was "a desperate attempt" to blacken his name, he added.
Ruane says that, since McGrady is no longer an Assembly member, he could not be appointed as a minister in a new power-sharing administration, adding that South Down needs someone who will make its case forcefully at the highest level.
McGrady counters that Sinn Féin is an extremist party and that "South Down does not want to be represented by extremism in any of its forms".
On the unionist side, the contest is between Democratic Unionist Party candidate Jim Wells and Dermot Nesbitt of the Ulster Unionists, with Wells seen as likely to come out ahead.
In the "main event", the McGrady-Ruane contest, observers believe McGrady will hold the seat on this occasion, but with a substantially-reduced majority.