Ard Fheis, or How I had the Best Night in Ireland at a Political Conference part 1

Best Night in Ireland. Hands down Lansdowne. Probably one of the best nights ever in the grand scheme of things. Of course, nothing comparatively to the night I met my best friend, but still.

Fine Gael have been gearing up for their National Conference or Ard Fheis in Irish (pronounced are-desh, go figure. Irish is feckin crazy.) I was reading through Brian’s conference speech on Thursday morning. His wife came in and I met her, she was really nice, and she asked, oh are you going to the conference, and I said no at the same time that Brian said yeah. And then he said, “Oh! You should go! Brian, lets get Natalie a room and you can take the train down Saturday morning. Bring one of your friends.” Fast forward to Saturday morning and Alison and I are jumping on a train (technically the dart, then the LUAS, then one train and then another) down to the very south west of Ireland in Killarney, County Kerry.

Alison and I were so excited to be getting out of Dublin! Plus, we were up in a FOUR STAR hotel—The Killarney Plaza and Spa. Much different than our recent trips (hostels yikes!) and our accommodation down in D4 (we came home to ants).

Flash back to Thursday afternoon. Brian was mentioning to some of his mates how they shouldn’t put conference in the same week as Paddy’s Day because it was too hard on ones liver. I should have taken greater note and prepared.

We’re forward again to Saturday. We got to Killarney at half twelve (12:30) and walked over to our hotel. Brain Hayes was waiting for us in the lobby and checked us in at the desk. I leaned over to Alison and said, “I feel like such a mistress.” The hotel was absolutely gorgeous. SO HAPPY. Plus, Killarney was very nice, very beautiful, etc. Alison and I are moving to Killarney one day. We got up to our great room, unpacked, and lounged for a little bit. Lunch and then to another hotel, the Malton, where the actual conference was on. We sat in on the Education Panel during which Brian gave the speech I edited and then there was a lot of discussion about Education in Ireland as well as abuse in both the education system and the government in general. It was about 2 hours, but mostly interesting.

The really funny part was that after some of the panel would speak, they’d ask for questions. And the moderator specifically said, questions, quick questions, no comments. None of them were quick, and probably about 2 of 15 were questions. THE IRISH CAN TALK. And they love to talk, and I love that about them. Congratulated Brian afterwards and headed back to our hotel. Then headed down for a quick workout at the “state of the art gymnasium” It felt good to get on an elliptical again. Showers, ROBES, and the beginning of the Ireland v Scotland rugby game. Then back to The Malton for the Leader’s Speech. I thought it would just be Edna Kenny, the party leader, TD from Mayo and Spokesperson on Northern Ireland giving his speech with one or two introduction speeches. –As is rather common in Ireland, or at least with the Brians, no one told me what was going on or what it would be like. There was a very engaging master of ceremonies, a young middle-aged woman, I cant for the life of me remember who exactly she was but I liked her. -----Mairead McGuinness, a Member of European Parliament. Woo woo EU. Then there were several speeches from Fine Gaelers. (Whats the plural? Haha) The two best were Leo Varadkar, the spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade and Employment who really laid into government and blamed them for the recession—but in a very intelligent, impassioned way—and then Michael Ring, spokesperson on Community and Rural Affairs. Deputy Ring had a very humorous speech, most of it equating to what a joke Fianna Foil is and what an astounding leader Edna Kenny is. There were some good videos played too—a few about current Councilors who will be running in by-elections for TD seats, and a FF joke one, and a video of Edna Kenny’s accomplishments since becoming leader. Which, he’s actually led the party very well, gained a lot of seats, laid out good policies, etc. Plus the video was to the tune of Sweet Surrender [by the Temper Trap--you should listen to it!!], which is most definitely a favourite.

Finally, Edna took the stage. His speech was about 25 minutes long, and he laid out Fine Gael’s 3 pillared plan to get Ireland back to work that will be implemented when they’re in government. It was a good speech and I really like Edna Kenny. He seems like a great, smart man. More on that later though.

I’ll conclude here with Part One. The Business half of my trip to Killarney.

I’m very very tired—which will be covered in part two. Hopefully tomorrow.

Party Day

I'm keeping you in suspense about Galway for now because it deserves its own post,

but more pressing matters have arisen in Leinster House.

George Lee was an economics advisor for the most popular television station in Ireland, RTE.

A TD in South Dublin passed away. There was a by-election, Lee ran under the Fine Gael banner. And he won, by a great majority. This was last June. He announced his resignation from the Dail and Fine Gael yesterday because he (apparently) had "virtually no influence or input" on Irish economic policy. Lee was (is?) a very popular public figure, and his constituents generally thought he was doing well. He even came in third place in a recent poll on who would be the next President (behind the previous Prime Minister)! Besides the empty seat and the underrepresented Dublin-South constituents, the issue is a supposed poor reflection on the leader of Fine Gael, Edna Kenny. There was concern that he would have to step down over this, but he seems to have the support of the rest of the party.

There were many a media member and whispers and jokes transpiring.

Hayes said, "you're present for a big day for the party"

During my tea break, the table of Brian and other middle-aged assistants were talking about it--and I chimed in too!

Yay for knowing whats going on and being able to intelligently contribute!

The bottom line is that Lee didn't seem to want his job anymore, and was a child about it. The way to influence policy is not to give up and leave. He could've switched parties, or been an Independent. He could've put in more time. A lot of people think he showed up expecting to be crowned King and treated accordingly because he was famous. It just seems like a rash, odd decision that didn't benefit anyone, or improve the situation of Lee or Fine Gael...