Weekend Sinn Fein ard fheis to be postponed

Sinn Fein will announce later today that it will postpone this weekend's ard fheis in Dublin because of the foot and mouth crisis.

The two-day conference will instead be replaced by an address to party activists by Gerry Adams and events commemorating the 1981 hunger strikes.

The conference, which was due to be attended by delegates from all over the country, is the second such event to be called off, following a similar postponement by Fine Gael last weekend.