Govt spending, immigration to dominate Aontú ard fheis
Government spending, immigration, housing and crime are likely to dominate proceedings at Aontú's ard fheis tomorrow.
The party, which now holds two Dáil seats, one seat in the Seanad and eight more in local authorities, is expecting as many as 400 people to attend the event at the City North Hotel in party leader Peadar Tóibín's Meath West constituency.
Among the most high-profile issues likely to be addressed at the event will be Government accountability and what Aontú says is the "glacial" pace of Government delivery on a number of key projects, including the National Children's Hospital.
That issue is expected to be raised during a noon session on accountability and a 3pm session on health, while the international protection system for people seeking asylum in Ireland - which Deputy Tóibín described this week as "chaotic" - is due to be discussed at 9:30am.
Further discussions are also scheduled on housing, crime, health and what the party has termed "common sense political reform" in the day-long event which ends at 7pm.
Speaking in advance of the ard fheis, which is the party's fifth since it was formed in 2019, Mr Tóibín said: "Key public services and key infrastructure across the country is grinding to a halt and bloating in cost every day. The National Children's Hospital is a monument to Government incompetence.
"But there are dozens of other wasteful projects ballooning out of all proportion. This has a serious cost to citizens.
"The referendums [last year, which were rejected by voters] were a watershed in the ability of the Irish people to tolerate meaningless virtue signalling. We are the only party listening to the people.
"We were the only party to stand up for the people on the referendums, the hate speech laws, carbon taxes, the right to life, the Government's chaotic immigration policy and gender ideology. We did so on the basis of common sense and compassion."
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