Other stories in brief from the PD conference.
Cullen 'failing' to help commuters
Minister for Transport Martin Cullen was accused of "failing dismally" to put in place initiatives to make life easier for commuters.
Meath East election candidate Sirena Campbell said the challenges facing commuters was a huge issue and called for the provision of proper park-and-ride facilities, well-planned bus services and a western orbital route from Drogheda to Kildare.
She said it had to be asked who had allowed the situation to develop whereby commuters found it impossible to park in local railway stations and there was bumper-to-bumper traffic in city streets.
Vote to reactivate café-bar proposal
Fianna Fáil backbenchers were accused of failing to put consumers before their friends in their opposition to the establishment of café bars. Delegate John Kenny said publicans needed to adapt to new trends and there was nothing wrong with a coffee shop serving beer and food.
He said Fianna Fáil had put its own interests ahead of consumers.
Delegates voted by an overwhelming majority on a motion calling on the Government to reactivate the proposal for café bars.
Electronic voting to be resisted
A motion that electronic voting should be resisted was agreed at the conference.
Party trustee Nóirín Slattery said: "People have to have trust in the system and I don't believe people will trust electronic voting."
Call for 10% drop in electricity price
A 10 per cent reduction in electricity prices is achievable, according to PD energy spokeswoman Fiona O'Malley. "When you own the wires and are never going to sell them, it is unethical to be charging unwarranted high prices just to swell your coffers, essentially in the expectation of a privatisation" that would not occur.
She said the Minister for Natural Resources must instruct the energy regulator that the ESB revert to a break-even position in monopoly areas of energy supply.
'Better relationship' with Church needed
The PDs should strive to develop a better relationship with the Church, guest speaker David Quinn told the PD conference. He said the moral transmitters of society - the Church included - were damaged and in need of repair. "This is a task that should concern everyone, including our political leadership."
He said the PDs must have a carefully worked-out family policy that supported the institution of marriage.