FF in drive to woo new members

FIANNA FÁIL is to launch a major recruitment drive within the next month to get 10,000 new members following the revelation that the party’s numbers have plummeted to under half of what was officially registered on their books.

This campaign was prompted by a confidential internal Fianna Fáil report which found there is only 15,000-20,000 members, made up of a rural, ageing and increasingly inactive grassroots. The report sent shockwaves through Fianna Fáil headquarters because their own data base showed they had 50,000 registered members.

Finance Minister Brian Cowen was commissioned to carry out the study of the state of the Fianna Fáil party in the wake of the disastrous local election results.