FINE GAEL, THE Greens and Sinn Féin are all due to kick off their parliamentary party think-ins this morning, with Mary Lou McDonald back in action after a summer spent recovering from an operation.

McDonald and Varadkar will both fight for the limelight with press events scheduled to clash later this morning. 

In the political sphere, this week began with Fianna Fáil’s annual think-in on Monday in the Horse and Jockey Hotel in Tipperary. 

TDs gathered to discuss the future direction of the party, with housing, education and the future of public service media core issues addressed during the get-together. 

The think-in was punctuated however with the presence of a farmers’ protest, with TDs and the Tánaiste Micheál Martin repeatedly approached by individuals who camped out at the hotel for the night. 

Martin met with IFA representatives on the first morning of the event, who set out their stall in relation to the upcoming change in Ireland’s nitrate derogation limit. 

Despite the Tánaiste dubbing the meeting a “constructive” one, dairy farmers have said they will protest again today outside the Fine Gael think-in in Tipperary. 

Fine Gael TDs and ministers will gather today at the Strand Hotel in Limerick and will be joined on Saturday morning by the party’s Councillors from across the country. 

At the same time, Sinn Féin TDs will meet in Dublin for the party’s annual think-in, although their affair is a more modest one day event. 

Yesterday, Mary Lou McDonald did her first interview in months. 

Speaking on Virgin Media’s Ireland AM programme, McDonald said she underwent a hysterectomy in June following the discovery of tumours and spent the rest of the summer recovering. 

In a video published to McDonald’s Instagram account on Wednesday, the Sinn Féin president said she is “fully recovered” and that “Sinn Féin is ready to lead”.

Elsewhere today, Green party TDs and Ministers will also meet for their annual think-in at the Majestic Hotel in Tramore, Waterford.

Yesterday, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats also both held their annual parliamentary party think-ins, with People Before Profit-Solidarity scheduled to hold theirs on Monday in Buswells Hotel in Dublin. 

Speaking yesterday, Labour leader Ivana Bacik told reporters in Maynooth that she and other party members have received threats and intimidation from the far-right.

She said there are “worrying signs of far-right organising” in Ireland, and that her party is proud to “face down voices of hate and bigotry”.

Meanwhile, Social Democrat’s leader Holly Cairns told reporters that the SocDems are against a proposed cut in the Universal Social Charge.

Cairns likened a USC cut to buying votes and said the Social Democrats’ approach would be to build up public services so that people see the benefit of the tax they pay.