FF members gather in Co Kerry for ardfheis

Fianna Fáil opens its ardfheis in Co Kerry this evening amid fears among members the party could be facing its first general election defeat for almost a decade.

The party has, at most, 18 months before it has to mount an election campaign sure to be dominated by claims of Government wastefulness, a struggling healthcare system and a working population being strangled by the costs of childcare.

In a sign the party is running scared, two senior Fianna Fáil Ministers and a Minister of State earlier this week devoted the majority of a press conference to announce details of the ardfheis to attacking Fine Gael and Labour instead.

They demanded their two main opponents reveal details of what they would do in government, accusing them of deliberately refusing to do so to conceal their differences.

Fianna Fáil took a hit in the local and European elections last summer, winning just 32 per cent of the national vote compared to 41 per cent in the general election of 2002. The result saw the party losing a third of their European Parliament seats and 80 local authority seats.

The party faithful will spend this weekend trying to formulate a way of stemming the rising tide of discontent.

Despite Ireland being richer than it has ever been in its history, huge swathes of the population are still experiencing consistent poverty.

There is rising discontent at the Government over its role in the notion of rip-off Ireland, a notion that is hardly being dispelled by revelations such as the recent waste of €150 million of taxpayers' money on the PPARS computer system for the health service.