The abortion debate could dominate the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis this weekend.

Around 4,000 delegates are gathering at the RDS in Dublin tonight and tomorrow for the event.

The party's buoyed by recent opinion polls and the Meath East by-election where they secured a third of the vote.

A number of motions have been put down to be debated - calling for the party's traditional pro-life stance to be maintained.

Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary admits the party has to see what the Government proposes before adopting a position: 

Another motion which will be debated is whether to ban former TDs who didn't stand at the last election from contesting again.

And the issue of whether the party should hold a Special Ard Fheis before going into any coalition government again in the future, will also be discussed. 

Seán Dorgan is Fianna Fáil's General Secretary: