And now Fine Gael too is going to Citywest, the new complex next door to the proposed Eircom/FAI stadium whose protagonists are currently slogging it out with Bertie Ahern's planned Stadium Ireland. The Citywest hotel in Saggart, Co Dublin, hosted the huge pre-Christmas Cairde Fail party which, with 2,100 people sitting down, was the largest dinner ever held in Ireland, or so Fianna Fail told Quidnunc. It may have been the biggest, but it wasn't the best, and many looked back fondly to the city centre hotels, with smaller crowds and better food.
But Citywest, owned by Jim Mansfield - the man who made a fortune from Falklands scrap metal - has the advantage in the size of the ballroom, easy parking and, crucially for political parties, suits country supporters who save an hour by avoiding Dublin. So, on February 17th it will host the party to mark the 75th birthday of former FG leader Garret FitzGerald. 1,500 guests are expected, paying £50 a head, and the guest speaker is none other than Geoffrey Howe, Margaret Thatcher's foreign secretary, whose attack on an opponent was likened by Denis Healey to being savaged by a dead sheep. It was Howe, however, who put the knife into Thatcher and started her descent from power.
FitzGerald, it is understood, wants the event to be a non-triumphalist occasion and an ecumenical event for the whole party; the organisers, led by parliamentary chairman, Phil Hogan TD, hope it will revive passions, enthuse supporters and bestow the mantle of success on John Bruton by harking back to the old days of glory and unity. The birthday boy is insisting on inviting former cabinet colleagues - and not just from his own party. The guest list includes Dick Spring[RO to be a non-triumphalist occasion and an ecumenical event for the whole party; the organisers, led by parliamentary chairman, Phil Hogan TD, hope it will revive passions, enthuse supporters and bestow the mantle of success on John Bruton by harking back to the old days of glory and unity. The birthday boy is insisting on inviting former cabinet colleagues - and not just from his own party. The guest list includes Dick Spring Ruairi Quinn and Barry Desmond.