Fianna Fáil says it expects more than 5,000 party members to attend tomorrow night's address by the Taoiseach to the party's ardfheis, which opens tonight in Dublin.
The 68th ardfheis will be used as a platform for the forthcoming local and European elections in June, and issues seen as vote-winners - such as decentralisation, greater freedom to build houses in the countryside and the prospects for economic growth - will be highlighted strongly.
The party general secretary, Mr Seán Dorgan, confirmed yesterday that local election candidates would be given priority when it came to choosing speakers at the event. The Ardfheis in City West has a new format this year whereby delegates will discuss a series of questions to Ministers rather than motions expressing views on particular issues.
Mr Dorgan said yesterday that the new format had been requested by party members who felt it allowed for better debate.
The chairman of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, Mr Séamus Kirk, said that while the ardfheis would not pass motions expressing members' views, the new format would make it clear to Ministers when there was a large body of opinion seeking a particular change.
The new and more relaxed regime covering the building of one-off housing in the countryside, announced yesterday a few minutes after the Fianna Fáil press conference giving details of its ardfheis, had emerged from pressure from Fianna Fáil members at an ardfheis, he said.
The Government Chief Whip, Ms Mary Hanafin, said very few people actually remembered the content of motions carried in the past, but people did remember lively debates, and the new rules were designed to facilitate that.
Mr Dorgan maintained that the party was facing the June elections "in very good heart" despite recent poor opinion-poll showings. Some 800 candidates had been selected to defend the party's 460 local authority seats around the State, while they had chosen two candidates to stand in each of the four European Parliament election constituencies.