This article is from page 14 of the 2007-03-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
FIANNA Fail Oireachtas members in Clare have refuted claims that the weekend Ard Fheis is merely a talk- ing shop.
Senator Brendan Daly admitted, however, that a lot of the work is done on the sidelines.
“It is a useful opportunity for peo- ple to meet the ministers first-hand so they hear the issues.” ;
He said that he felt the 7Ist Ard Fheis was particularly successful as
a number of people from Clare met with different ministers to discuss 1s- sues from the hospital to the Doolin Coast Guard.
The west Clare politician said that as many of the motions have been submitted long in advance they are often dated, so highlighting the is- sues and meeting the policy-makers is where a lot of the work is done.
Fellow senator Timmy Dooley be- lieves there has been “progressive change” at the Ard Fheiseanna.
‘The whole media presentation has
changed so there is a much greater fo- cus on communicating with the peo- ple that don’t attend the Ard Fheis.
“The Ard Fheis one time was very much focused on the delegates and the people who attended and 1s still very much that, but now there is a much greater effort to communicate with the people who don’t attend and maybe the people who are not neces- sarily Fianna Fail members around the country.
“I think there is a great opportu- nity for the cumann members around
County Clare to come and meet ministers, go to the work shops, put forward motions initially and have them debated in an open and frank way in front of the senior politicians, the ministers and the Taoiseach. That gives them a sense of satisfaction,’ he said.
He added that having the issues de- livered directly to the minister from the people is very effective.
Minister for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen has been going to the Ard Fheis for 30 years and is equally positive about the process.
He believes there is a lot of business done during the weekend.
“A good few ministers have an ear for a policy idea. I found some of the suggestions to be very helpful. Sometimes when you hear something it has been raised previously, and it has either been put on the long finger or it has been dismissed as an idea for whatever reason. When circum- stances change, then ideas can have reached their time,” he said.
The workshop is better for distilling an idea that the usual motions put by delegates according to the minister.
A lot of the motions are by their nature topical, and as a result have often been dealt with before the elec- tion, he told