The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, has opened up what he described as a "de facto" branch of the Irish Labour Party in Northern Ireland.
Labour effectively now has elected representatives in the Republic and in Northern Ireland but, said Mr Rabbitte, it had no intention of putting forward candidates to run under the Irish Labour banner in the North.
Mr Rabbitte travelled to Belfast yesterday to formally launch the Northern Ireland Labour Forum which will send delegates to the Labour Party conference and whose members will be able to vote in internal Labour elections, including the election of the party's ruling executive.
There are about 50 members in the Labour Forum, two of whom are elected councillors. These are Mr Mark Langhammer, on Newtownabbey Council, and Mr John McLaughlin, on Omagh Council.
Under current numbers, the Northern Ireland element of the Labour Party would not have sufficient strength to elect one or more of the party's 22-member executive but it could influence the outcome of executive elections.
Mr Rabbitte envisaged the Forum, which he saw as a "third strand" of centre left politics in Northern Ireland - "neither unionist nor nationalist" - as growing in numbers and influence on the broad Labour Party.
He did not expect the creation of the forum to trigger any strains between Labour and its fraternal party, the SDLP.
This was confirmed by the SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, who said he had no objections to the forum and had been consulted about its creation.
Mr Rabbitte said people could be members of the forum as well as members of other parties such as the SDLP.
He did not totally rule out eventually running candidates in the North but made it clear that were that to occur it would not be until quite some time into the future, and at a time when Northern politics was radically restructured.
"We did not establish this forum to be electorally focused. It will, in a society increasingly polarised on communal lines, seek to create space for debate on the centre left," he explained.
"At another level, whilst it may be too early to speak of radical political realignment across the island, we are looking to create a structure which could respond quickly to any political fluidity or change in the future," added Mr Rabbitte.
He indicated that he expected the Forum to have influence within the party.
"Recent changes to the Labour Party constitution have allowed people resident in Northern Ireland to become members.
"The Northern Ireland Labour Forum is, de facto, a Labour Party branch.
It has the same constitution, rights and obligations as other Labour branches, including rights to submit resolutions to conferences, and to stand for party office," he said.
"It will have a public presence, will encourage its members to take up public appointments, will respond to relevant consultations and will develop and publish political policy positions. Socialist education will be an important part of the forum's work," the Labour leader added.
Mr Durkan said he did not view the forum's creation as a threat to the SDLP.
He primarily saw the move as one seeking to accommodate those Northern members of Democratic Left who effectively were disenfranchised when Democratic Left merged with the Labour Party.