FF signals second image change

FIANNA FÁIL’S annual think-in next week will grapple with new ‘quality of life’ issues like childcare, long commuting times and the disintegration of community spirit that contributed to its two by-election losses this year as well as the Government’s falling support levels in opinion polls.

Guest speakers at the two-day parliamentary party meeting - starting in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, next Monday - have tended to set the tone of the party’s political direction for the new Dáil session.

Last year, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern spearheaded the so-called Inchydoney strategy, a leftward shift of policy, following the appearance of anti-poverty campaigner, Fr Seán Healy of CORI.