FF ard f heis in doubt as venue is being used for refugees
FIANNA FáIL’S long-anticipated inperson ard fheis will not be held in Dublin’s Citywest as planned because the hotel is being used to house Ukrainian war refugees.
The party’s first voting ard fheis in more than four-and-a-half years was due to be held at Citywest between June 17 and 18, but the party told members late on Friday night that the venue is no longer available.
Senior party sources yesterday said Fianna Fáil HQ is now attempting to secure the RDS in Ballsbridge, Dublin, as an alternative venue for the same dates.
However, the ard fheis remains up in the air after unprecedented delays caused by the pandemic.
Fianna Fáil has not had held a party conference since February 2019, but even that event was a non-voting gathering.
A full ard fheis holds votes for key party positions and was once a major event on the Irish political calendar.
An email sent to party members on Friday night said, ‘A chara, We’ve been informed in recent hours that Citywest will no longer be available to host our ard fheis, planned for June 17 and 18 June, 2022.
‘In anticipation of this, we have been working on putting contingency plans in place. We confirm that we are still working on having our ard fheis proceed in June. We will be in contact over the coming days with revised details.’
The email from HQ added, ‘I know you will be disappointed with this change to plans but you will appreciate that this has been an evolving situation in recent weeks over which we had no control. We know you will understand given the circumstances. We will be in contact again shortly.’
Senior party figures said the party is trying to secure the RDS as an alternative venue.
But the RDS is not a popular choice among party members from outside the capital as hotels in the area have been accused of charging ‘outrageous’ prices during previous ard fheis weekends.
One party insider told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘There have been outrageous hotel room costs. It will really diminish the number of country-based members who travel, as it costs too much.’
The Fianna Fáil member added: ‘It’s okay for Fine Gael to have their ard fheis in the RDS. They have a far smaller party and most of them live in south Dublin anyway.’