The Workers’ Party will hold its Ard Fheis / Annual Conference 2015 in Dublin this weekend, gathering at the Communications Workers Union hall, North Circular Road, Dublin 1, on Friday (9th October) and Saturday (10th October).

The conference will be attended by over 150 delegates from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and overseas who will debate a range of issues including economic development, combating sectarianism and Ireland’s relationship with the EU. The conference will also see the official presentation of the party’s candidates for the forthcoming general election in the Republic and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Michael Donnelly

Workers Party President Michael Donelly

Speaking ahead of the conference Workers’ Party President, Michael Donnelly, said: “Decisions made at this conference will form the basis of the Workers’ Party’s radical and practical agenda for the forthcoming elections in the Republic and Northern Ireland. “This conference comes at an important time for the party which has experienced serious growth over the past year and seeks to once more to place its socialist agenda at the heart of the working class communities throughout the country.”

Mr. Donnelly continued, “The Ard Fheis will not just consist of an angry denunciation of austerity such as can be heard at the conferences of the other opposition parties; the Workers’ Party will analyse and challenge the pernicious ideology behind austerity – capitalism – and show that austerity has now become an indispensible weapon against the working class. As socialists we will seek to confront and contest austerity at every turn not because it is unpopular but because it is inherently anti-democratic and unjust.”

The conference will discuss a broad range of issues from the necessity of an adequate public childcare system, housing, workers rights, the fight against water charges North and South and an examination of Ireland’s relationship with the European Union.

The Ard Fheis will also be addressed on Saturday afternoon by the Cuban Ambassador to Ireland H.E. Dr. Hermes Herrera Hernandez who will brief the delegates on the ongoing talks between his country and the Obama administration of the United States.

The Conference will open with an address by Workers’ Party Dublin City Councillor, Éilis Ryan on Friday evening.