A Sinn Féin councillor has accused Fianna Fail of having been too afraid of the British army to organise itself in Northern Ireland before now.
Just days after Fianna Fail leader Bertie Ahern announced that it was time for his party to begin "organising on a 32-county basis", Co Tyrone councillor Michael Henry McIvor said move was a case of "history repeating itself".
Mr McIvor said Fianna Fail had only been set up in the Republic in the 1920s after the British army left.
"Now, surprise, surprise. Once the British army has left the streets of the six counties, here comes Fianna Fail to first organise and then in a few years, fight elections when they are sure there are no British soldiers about," Mr McIvor said.
"When the British army leave Iraq and Afghanistan, will Fianna Fail wish to organise there?
"Fianna Fail has a foreign affairs minister who speaks about, and treats, the people six counties as foreign.
"How can they treat Irish people as foreign and then ask those same people to vote for them?
"This is one disgraceful act that must be changed."
Mr McIvor was speaking after Mr Ahern announced this week that it was time for his party "to play its full role, to take its proper place, in this new politics – in this new Ireland.
"I am announcing that Fianna Fail, the Republican Party, will now move to develop a strategy for organising on a 32-county basis.
"This move reflects the dramatic changes we have seen across the island," Mr Ahern said.
Mr McIvor said "the only positive light" in the possibility of Fianna Fail merging with SDLP in its move north, was the fact that they would "become an all-Ireland party and this has to be welcomed 100%".
"This is the Sinn Féin option and it's great news that others will now follow, be Irish and proud," he said.
