Ógra FF gets boost in numbers in the North
Around 150 members have been recruited into newly formed Ógra Fianna Fáil societies in the North, it emerged today.
Last September, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced the party’s intention to contest elections in the North and political groups were set up in Magee University, Derry, and Queens, Belfast.
Delegates from the northern societies will join their southern counterparts for the party’s annual two-day youth conference in Co Offaly tonight, focusing on European reform, the integration of migrants and the possible move north.
“Last September we recruited in Magee and Queens and between the two of them I think we recruited about 150 members,” said youth conference spokesman Aidan O’Gorman.
“Both have now become active societies.
“Tomorrow afternoon we’re having a workshop on Fianna Fáil moving into Northern Ireland, with speakers including Eamon O’Cuiv and also members of Dermot Ahern’s committee,” he said.
Mr O’Gorman said the societies in both Derry and Belfast had flourished and the majority of members were from the North.
“The people (members) themselves feel that Fianna Fáil have something to offer up north,” he said.
“They’ve seen the success we’ve had down here. Plus we offer something a bit different than the traditional divided politics they have up there.”
Other topics to be discussed at the conference, which will run until tomorrow evening, will be the forthcoming referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, expected in late May, and the integration of migrants into society.
The Taoiseach will address conference delegates at the Tullamore Court Hotel tomorrow afternoon, while local TD and Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, Europe Minister Dick Roche and Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan will also be present.
