Leaders Address; FF Ard Fheis

[campbeca]

Thread to put your thoughts on the speech if you're a sad hack like me and plan on watching it.
Wonder at which point he will mention Lawlor? Surely there won't be a minutes silence.

[Carrier]

Bertie did quite well. One of the best speaches I've seen him make. Interesting that he brought up unity a lot, and stressed his and FF's republicanism. SF's march has brought about change in FF.

[campbeca]

Well there you have it, government good, opposition bad.

Not Rhetoric but Results

(Brilliant when everyone clapped too early during the Irish language part of the speech and he had another sentence to get out)

No mention of Lawlor which surprised me

[geraghd]

Bertie did quite well. One of the best speaches I've seen him make. Interesting that he brought up unity a lot, and stressed his and FF's republicanism. SF's march has brought about change in FF.

He's obviously not a great at speeches so... It was quite obvious he kept looking at the autocues and at the start its as if he couldnt get the words out fast enough.. Like the election trail in 2002..

[mjcoughlan]

As far as party conference speeches go, it wasn't bad at all. I thought, however, that he was speaking a bit too fast and trying to fit too much in. At the early part of the speech he was using statstics and figures in abundance and that isn't necessarily a good thing. I, personally, didn't appreciate the part as gaeilge, when people clapped yet only Eamon O'Cuiv appeared to understand him, but that's a matter of personal taste and isn't that much of a flaw. FFers love to hear the cupla focail.

Overall it wasn't bad.

[Wednesday]

Interesting that he brought up unity a lot, and stressed his and FF's republicanism.

I only saw the end of it (couldn't put it on until Charmed was over), but I wasn't particularly impressed by this. Sure he said the words "unity" and "republican" a lot but didn't get into the detail of what that means, apart from something like "greater north-south cooperation makes political sense and economic sense", but that hardly scratches the surface.

[mjcoughlan]

Interesting that he brought up unity a lot, and stressed his and FF's republicanism.

I only saw the end of it (couldn't put it on until Charmed was over), but I wasn't particularly impressed by this. Sure he said the words "unity" and "republican" a lot but didn't get into the detail of what that means, apart from something like "greater north-south cooperation makes political sense and economic sense", but that hardly scratches the surface.

To be fair, he only had a half hour and there are a lot more problems that need to be addressed other than Northern Ireland. Yes, he did stress his republicanism a lot, he must be a regular visitor to this site.

[brenners']

The prospect of Sinn Féin taking FF votes is definitely something of concern to Bertie by the looks of it.
I attended a speech he made on Wednesday evening on education and the one thing I always find is that it is very hard to remember what he has said ten minutes after he has said it, very forgettable every time he talks.

[iceman]

Did they leave all the under 50's out in the lobby?

[Carrier]

Interesting that he brought up unity a lot, and stressed his and FF's republicanism.

I only saw the end of it (couldn't put it on until Charmed was over), but I wasn't particularly impressed by this. Sure he said the words "unity" and "republican" a lot but didn't get into the detail of what that means, apart from something like "greater north-south cooperation makes political sense and economic sense", but that hardly scratches the surface.

He also spoke about what 'real republicanism' was for him - implementing policies that improves the peoples' quality of life.