Coining it in at the Ard Fheis
I've been at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis since last night, when Mary Lou McDonald set the theme for the weekend by calling for corrupt bankers to face jail.
During the day other republicans have been criticising the "fat cats" they hold responsible for the financial crisis, and Gerry Adams has demanded that the Irish governmet should be replaced.
The thrust of Sinn Fein thinking now seems to be towards a broad left coalition, working together with Irish Labour as a voice of the disenchanted. With tens of thousands of angry workers out on the streets of Dublin that's clearly the populist course of action. But will Irish voters deem Sinn Fein relevant to the credit crunch, or could they once again get squeezed to the margins of the big economic debate.
Fittingly for a money obsessed era, next door to the Ard Fheis the RDS is also hosting a coin collectors exhibition (one prize exhibit appears to be Arthur Griffiths' watch chain). A collector told my colleague Martina Purdy that if you have an old Northern Bank note in mint condition you can get a lot of money for it. But in truth anyone who we mentioned it to in the hall said they wouldn't know where to get one (Barry McElduff suggested trying "New Forge Lane").
Whilst the focus may have been on the south the north hasn't been totally forgotten, with Martin McGuinness saying the Orange state had been replaced by an Orange and Green north "and evolution, like climate change, is undeniable".
Whilst Declan Kearney had a tough message for dissident republicans, on Inside Politics Gerry Adams seemed to accuse Sir Hugh Orde of making too much of the threat to return to the old policing ways. Got to go now as about to be live on air.
UPDATE: Had to rush for the train, so wasn't able to blog again on Saturday night. However I conributed an analysis piece on the Ard Fheis for the main news website, which you can read
I'm 
Comments