The Ireland in which Fianna Fail had been founded in 1926 had irrevocably changed, the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation told delegates.
"Fianna Fail in government has as its primary economic aim the achievement of social inclusion. The new republic must be for everyone. It must be for the unemployed, it must be for people with disabilities, it must be for single parents, for gay people, for small farmers," Dr McDaid added.
He added that the ardfheis, on the eve of the new millennium, was an opportune time for the party to take stock. "From our foundation in 1926, we have been the driving political force in Irish life. We have been not just a political party, but a national movement. In every generation since the foundation of the State we have set the national agenda."