FF Árd Fheis - Battle for power begins in earnest

With more than 5,000 delegates expected to join Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis this weekend, the serious business of a return to power at next year’s general election officially began.

As a warm-up to it, Mr Ahern announced the intention to hold a constitutional referendum to amend the rights of children, which, no doubt, was prompted by UN criticism of the Government in this regard.

Undoubtedly, it was largely influenced too by the panic the country descended into in the aftermath of the infamous Mr C case earlier this year.

The Supreme Court had found that section of the 1935 legislation, under which a number of men were charged with having carnal knowledge of girls under the age of 15, was unconstitutional because it did not allow a defence of honest mistake as to a girl’s age.

The árd fheis also meets in the wake of Bertie Ahern’s unprecedented defence of having admitted to taking money from wealthy friends, and the running controversy that surrounded it.

There is a long litany of issues that will have to be dealt with in the run-up to the election such as crime, health, education, and housing to mention but a few.