FG to plot election strategy at annual conference

FINE Gael TDs and senators will meet in Cavan today to plot strategy for the new Dáil term and continue preparations for a snap general election.

The party is in buoyant mood as it meets for its annual parliamentary party conference, after an opinion poll last week showed it now enjoys twice as much public support as Fianna Fáil.

The conference will continue until tomorrow afternoon.

It will hear from a number of guest speakers, including economist Colm McCarthy who chaired ‘An Bord Snip’, the Government-appointed group tasked with identifying savings in the public sector.

He will talk on the subject of the economic crisis.

Tomorrow, the party will hear from Theo Van Uum, director of policy at the Dutch ministry for health.

Fine Gael modelled its “Fair Care” health reform proposals on Dutch policy.

The party will also hold sessions on the banking crisis and the Lisbon treaty referendum.

Sinn Féin held its parliamentary party conference last Friday in Dublin, while Labour’s two-day conference will take place on Wednesday and Thursday in Waterford.

Green Party TDs and senators will meet for a one-day conference on Friday in Athlone.

The following day, they and the party’s wider membership will convene at a different venue in the same town for a special conference to discuss NAMA.

That could prove a difficult event for the party leadership, with the recent poll indicating a majority of Green members oppose NAMA.

Fianna Fáil, meanwhile, has also chosen Athlone for its parliamentary party conference, which will take place next Monday and Tuesday.

All eyes will be on the mood of the party’s backbench TDs following the poll, which showed Fianna Fáil on just 17%.

If that finding were replicated in a snap election, between 30 and 40 of the TDs could expect to lose their seats.

The conferences are held by each party every year to strategise for the new Dáil term.

The Dáil resumes on September 16.