More than 3,000 expected in RDS Dublin at biggest Ard Fheis party has ever held

A MUCH-ANTICIPATED speech by Gerry Adams will be televised lived by RTÉ and on the Sinn Féin website and Facebook page on Saturday at 8:30pm.

Gerry Adams is expected to spell out when he intends to hand over the baton to someone else to be elected President by Sinn Féin members after 34 years at the helm of the republican party from 1983.

There are 170 motions to be debated among more than 3,000 members and visitors expected at the RDS in Dublin at the biggest Ard Fheis the party has ever held.

Pearse Doherty TD said Sinn Féin will also be concluding discussions on the party’s ten-year plan, Unity in Our Time.

● Kathleen Funchion TD and Caoimhe Archibald MLA at the launch

Kathleen Funchion TD, Co-Chair of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly, chaired the launch in Dublin on Tuesday, saying that debates will be held on Repeal the Eighth and Brexit along with many motions on housing, health and education.

The Ard Fheis will include guest speakers from Catalonia and the half-million-strong Laborers’ International Union of North America, LiUNA, the Kilkenny TD said.

Caoimhe Archibald MLA spoke at the Ard Fheis launch on the talks impasse caused by DUP intransigence blocking rights issues at Stormont.

She told reporters that Sinn Féin would meeting the British and Irish governments “in the coming days”.

There will also be an emergency Ard Fheis motion tabled by the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle.

Pearse Doherty said:

“Health and housing will be at the top of the agenda, alongside the Repeal the Eighth Amendment referendum, the demand for Special Status for the North in the EU to deal with the threat posed by Brexit, and the ongoing political crisis in the North.

Pearse Doherty said the party will also be advancing its preparations for the next Dáil general election and possible outcomes.

“It is my firm view that the health and housing crisis will only be fixed with Sinn Féin in government and there are enough people out there who want the crisis in health and housing resolved to see that happen,” he said.

The Ard Fheis will be opened at 6pm on Friday evening by the Sinn Féin Ard-Mhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath, Mícheál Mac Donncha.

There will then be a keynote address by the Sinn Féin leader in the North, Michelle O’Neill MLA, which will address the situation in the North and the threat posed to the whole island of Ireland by Brexit, motions on which will be discussed later on Friday.

Options for involvement in government in the 26 Counties will be discussed on Friday evening and will be followed by a keynote address by deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald TD.

Saturday’s debates include:-

Infrastructure, Regional & Rural Development;

International Solidarity, Global Justice and Climate Change;

Justice and Equality;

A National Health Service for Ireland;

Education, Childcare and Social Policy;

Towards a New and United Ireland.

Saturday evening will include a tribute to Martin McGuinness and will close with the eagerly-awaited Presidential Address by Gerry Adams TD from 8:30pm.