Crowded stage set for pre-election spring party conference season

IN BRITAIN every autumn, they have a party conference season. In late September and early October, just before parliament resumes, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party in turn take off to Blackpool or Bournemouth or some other seaside town for an annual jamboree of political speech-giving and socialising.

In Ireland, party conferences are usually more spread out across the political calendar. However, things are different this spring and we are going to have our very own political party conference season. It's a case of one down and five to go as the parties seek to squeeze their national events into the window of prime-time TV opportunity between now and the end of April. Brace yourself for what could be a pre-election overload of political coverage.

Sinn Féin staged the season's opener. Somewhat ironically, the Royal Dublin Society was the venue for their jamboree last weekend. As usual, it was a tightly-controlled event. Showcasing their local and European election candidates was a priority. Particular care was taken to ensure the right people were in the camera shots when Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were around. Adams' presidential address on Saturday contained little it was long on broad aspirations and heavy on sound bites. Linguistically at least, Sinn Féin has now moved a step further in the peace process apparently, we are now in the "process of change" phase.