Céad Fianna Fáilte as Martin and his minions get the post-pity party started

A bright, new, shining political party was visible on the doorstep of the RDS on Saturday.

All these young, mostly women, milling around the threshold under a wan spring sun, passing out leaflets of smiling faces.

Who are these people? Are they the missing link in Irish politics, that elusive new force that the country is apparently crying out for?

Welcome to the world of Fianna Fáil Nua, the coming force in Irish politics, which held its ard fheis in Dublin at the weekend. First impressions on entry to the hall can be random. Herein, you won’t be greeted by a balding county councillor who can spot a fifth preference vote as easily as he could shoot a rabbit. Instead, the reception is thick with LARs, the so-called Local Area Representatives, who are not elected to anything, but earmarked for eventual ascent to the national stage.

The LARs look the business, if your business is kicking off a new political party. They tend to be young, gender equalised, and full of beans. They are the new face of Fianna Fáil. Don’t mention the war. Bertie who?

Renewal was the theme of the ard fheis. ‘Turning Renewal into Revival’ was a slogan you couldn’t help bumping into. Was the reference to the party or the country? Both, of course. For, as any old timer will patiently explain to you, the party represents the spirit of the nation.

Twelve months after their last tribal gathering at the same venue, you could feel the confidence flowing back into the party psyche. Last year, Micheál Martin had to be careful to avoid the figure of Bertie Ahern lurking in the hall like a Celtic Tiger ghost.

This time around, Martin moved through the stalls with poise and grace, stopping here at the Marriage Equality stand, pausing there to shoot the breeze with the folks from the Gay Lesbian Equality Network. FF has always been an equal opportunities vote hoover.

Martin is entitled to major credit for dragging the moribund body back to life. He has buckets of energy, and apparently survives on a diet of green tea, beans, and the odd banana. His youthful looks allow the public to forget how long he’s been around. He is an excellent media performer, and his whole persona does emit the impression that he has actually grown politically since things went belly-up five years ago.

It’s not all good, though. While the LAR generation buzzed around the hall, a trawl through all nooks and crannies suggests a large cohort of delegates is still on the home straight to retirement. The geographic divide is also a major issue.

Most of those in attendance were out-of-towners. The party honcho chairing a debate on renewal in Dublin was Timmy Dooley, who’s from… ah, Co Clare. A party with no TDs in the city, which is the cockpit of the electorate, still has mountains to climb.

There are, however, some efforts to show a new face. Small gestures towards reform have been made internally. One-member-one-vote opens up the party to real democracy, providing a voice for all elected members in deciding a party leader. This used to be the preserve of TDs.

Another motion passed on Saturday instructed that any future programme for government be referred to the membership for approval. This again doffs the cap to the mistakes of the recent past, when one of the levers of destruction was the hoarding of power among few individuals. It also opens up a possible intriguing scenario after the next general election.

Would the membership vote to go into government as a junior partner to Fine Gael? Dev, who must be worn out from turning in his grave, would go gaga altogether at the prospect.

Elsewhere, there was a resolution that looked like a purge: “This ard fheis calls on the party to ensure that former TDs who did not stand at the last election not be allowed to stand in future elections.”

The motion was carried by a large majority. It is unlikely to have any real effect, apart from attempting to distance the party from its former politburo — with the honourable exception, of course, of the current leader, who was in short trousers back then and far too immature to know what was really going on.

A few of those who ran but fell at the last election put in an appearance, including Sean Haughey, Pat Breen, and Mary Hanafin. The rumour mill was churning the possibility of Hanafin putting her name forward for Europe next year, but the consensus was she’ll have to do something about her obscene ministerial pension if she opts in.

Some things are not for changing. Four motions on abortion ultimately affirmed that Fianna Fáil “is a pro-life party”, whatever that is these days.

The motion proposing that the party “opposes the introduction of any legislation which introduces the ‘risk of suicide’ as a threat to the life of the mother”, poses problems for Martin. If he now goes along with the Government’s proposal to legislate for the X case, he will be going against the membership’s wishes.

And if he does do as the membership urge, he could be accused of the worst kind of opposition for the sake of it.

Martin’s own speech went down well, his prescriptions for the country straddling the fence between practical solutions and blatant populism. At the end of the weekend, the Soldiers of Destiny will have a greater pep in their step. They’re on the way back, sniffing a few currents of power, getting all their LARs in a row, and keeping a straight face.