Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher has said his party needs to "reconnect and re-engage" with young people, given its facing "a demographic cliff-edge when it comes to membership, activists and voters".
Speaking at an Eamon De Valera commemoration this afternoon, Mr Kelleher asserted that Fianna Fáil is currently not doing enough to engage with young people.
He said: "To say otherwise would be to deny reality...We need to listen to them, and not dismiss their views just because we don't agree or don’t understand."
The Ireland South MEP also said that the founders of Fianna Fáil "were people of little or no property", and he contended that members should be "very proud" that the party "has never been the party of the landed or business classes."
However, he warned that, "save for a few honourable exceptions, we have lost our strongholds in working class estates and among marginalised communities - communities that sustained our movement for nearly 100 years."
Mr Kelleher said it was vital to ensure that Fianna Fáil's policy platform reflects "the needs of each and every sector" of society.
In his speech, he said that Fianna Fáil needs to "reclaim our leadership role" uniting the island of Ireland, and take it back from what he termed "those who have done nothing but bring shame on the word republican".
He said: "We must accept that the people, especially our young people, are ahead of the politicians when it comes to a United Ireland. We also have to be honest with ourselves."
Specifically, he said that the answers to questions surrounding unity need to be in the public domain "long before any border poll is called".
He asked: "If we don’t take the leadership role in convincing people, north and south of the merits of a united, shared Ireland, who will? The Shinners? They are simply too divisive for over 50% of the people of the North."
Mr Kelleher said Fianna Fáil must be willing to take on a leadership role in preparing for unity: "The Unionist community knows our bona fides. They know we want a United Ireland but equally know they have nothing to fear from us."
