AS Fianna Fáil held their first ever fundraising event in Sinn Féin's stronghold of Crossmaglen on Friday night, Sinn Féin contemplated the use of one of the key weapons in the fundraising armoury of the Soldiers of Destiny – the church gate collection.

West Cork Comhairle Ceantair proposed that Sinn Féin begin to hold "a national church gate collection for one day every year as a means of fundraising for the party, similar to the collections of the other political parties in the country."

The motion was passed. Sinn Féin are coming to a church gate near you.

You could be forgiven for thinking that money was high on the party's agenda at the RDS this weekend as there was an array of coins on display. Even though it was nothing to do with Sinn Féin, the Irish International Coin Fair in the room next door has probably never attracted such attention as many party delegates wandered in for a look yesterday.

Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams are god-like figures in Sinn Féin, but the smell of incense wafting around the RDS yesterday morning seemed like the party were in engaging in some sort of religious worship of the pair.

However, the incense was actually coming from the Divine Mercy Apostolate mass in another room in the RDS complex.

Entitled A Vision for Ireland's Future, the main theme of the weekend conference was Sinn Féin's vision for getting the Irish economy moving again.

But there were a litany of other motions tabled for discussion and among those was an uncanny proposal for the PSNI.

Members of the Charlie McGlade Cumann in Drimnagh, Dublin asked, "If the PSNI are meant to be an impartial police force, why do they insist on wearing the poppy and not other emblems such as the Easter lily?"

There was an obvious difference of opinion between motions tabled by a Sinn Féin cumann in Dublin and two branches in Tralee and Thurles.

Members of the Drimnagh Cumann called for "a total ban on all blood sports, including hare coursing and fox hunting" while members from Ardfert, Tralee and the Robert Emmet Cumann in Thurles called for the ardfheis to "reiterate its view that hare coursing is not a blood sport and that it opposes any attempt to ban a popular rural sport."

Elsewhere, Ógra Sinn Féin members in Dublin have turned up their noses at the sale of foie gras. The group called for a ban on its sale in Irish shops.

Their motion stated, "Foie Gras is illegal to produce in Ireland due to the torture-like method required to prepare the goose or duck's liver, but is on sale in a number of locations around the 32 counties."

The same group tabled a motion seeking a "complete end to VAT on contraceptive devices".