Standing Orders for Constituency Councils 2009

ADOPTED BY EXECUTIVE BOARD 10TH DECEMBER 2009

  1. Name

    The Council shall be known as "The _________________________ Constituency Council", hereafter referred to as the Constituency Council, and shall represent the Dáil Constituency of ___________.

  2. Objectives

    1. To establish and maintain an effective organisation for successfully contesting elections within the Constituency.
    2. To plan, co-ordinate and carry out Labour Party activities and campaigns within the constituency
    3. To explain and promulgate, in co-operation with the Branches and Divisional Councils in the Constituency, Labour Party Policies and Principles.
    4. To provide a means of communications between Labour Party members and Labour Party Public Representatives in the constituency.
    5. To advise the Executive Board on matters relating to Labour Party Policy and activity.
    6. To act as a forum for the discussion and establishment of policies which relate to Labour Party Policies and Principles in the Constituency.
    7. To ensure that the financial and other resources are generated to successfully contest election campaigns and fulfil commitments set out by the Executive Board.
    8. To develop of an informal social element to the party's activities to allow all members to attend and interact with the party.

  3. Composition of Council

    1. The Council shall represent the area of a Dáil Constituency.
    2. Each Branch of the Party shall represent a defined geographical area within a specific Dáil Constituency, and each branch which has such a functional area within the Constituency shall affiliate to the Constituency Council
    3. The Constituency Council shall consist of (a) all branch members registered to each of the branches affiliated to the Constituency Council which have paid their affiliation fee to Head Office for the year in question and (b) all paid up constituency members of the Party for the constituency. However voting rights of such members are subject to these standing orders.
    4. All such members shall be entitled to notice of, to attend and to speak at meetings of the Constituency Council.
    5. No branch shall be affiliated to more than one Constituency Council. Where there is any doubt as to which Constituency any branch should affiliate to, the matter shall be referred to the Organisation Sub-Committee, whose decision shall be final.
    6. vi. Voting at meetings of the Constituency Council is limited to members of the Council who have been paid up members of the Party for the previous 2 months.

  4. Constituency Council Officers

    4.1 The Constituency Council shall at its Annual General Meeting elect the following Officers from amongst the members accredited to it and nominated members entitled to make nominations:

    1. Chairperson
    2. Vice-Chairperson
    3. Treasurer
    4. Secretary
    5. Women's Officer
    6. Equality Officer
    7. Youth Organiser
    8. Public Relations Officer
      In addition the Constituency Council may, if it so wishes, elect:
    9. Constituency Organiser
    10. Trustees (including the Treasurer ex officio - if none are elected, the powers of the Trustees shall vest in the Treasurer)
    11. Ordinary members of the Executive (up to 4), having due regard to the need to represent branches not otherwise represented on the Executive
    12. International Affairs Officer
    13. European Officer (this post may be combined with the International Affairs Officer)

    4.2 One person may hold more than one of the officer posts.

    4.3 Tenure of Officers
    No officer shall be entitled to hold any one officer post for longer than 4 consecutive years, after having completed this number of years s/he may not be re-elected to this particular office for at least 2 years (i.e. at the next two subsequent AGMs)

    4.4 Gender Balance

    1. The Chairperson and Vice Chairperson shall be of different gender.
    2. The voting membership of the Constituency Executive shall, so far as shall be practicable having regard to the candidates nominated for election, comprise not fewer than 30% women and not fewer than 30% men.

    4.5 Roles of Officers

    • The chairperson shall preside over meetings, authenticate by signature the minutes of meetings and exercise a general supervision over the affairs of the Council.
    • The vice-chairperson shall assist the chairperson in the performance of his/her functions and, in the absence of the chairperson, shall preside over meetings.
    • The secretary shall write minutes of the proceedings of meetings, maintain a record of attendance at meetings and a register of members and shall be responsible for records and correspondence generally.
    • The treasurer shall keep all appropriate accounts and financial books and records and shall ensure the Constituency is in compliance with any relevant electoral legislation.
    • The Women's officer shall keep in contact with Labour Women, attend Labour Women's council meetings, conferences and other events, report to every meeting on the activities of Labour Women and encourage and support women members, in particular new women members, of the council.
    • The Trustees of the Constituency. Any property or assets of the constituency party shall be vested in the trustees of the constituency for the period of their appointment, and in the application of such property and assets the trustees shall be subject to and shall comply with the directives of the Constituency Executive.

    4.6 The incoming Constituency Secretary shall report the names of the incoming officers to the General Secretary within 10 days of the AGM.

  5. Meetings

    5.1 The Constituency Council shall meet at least 4 times in each calendar year, one of which shall be the AGM.

    5.2 Meetings of the Constituency Council shall normally be held on ____________________. Meetings will normally be convene at ____ and business will be completed within 2 hours.

    5.3 In the event of any motion being put to the meeting and the vote on the motion being tied the Chairperson shall have the casting vote.

    5.4 Notice of meeting (other than AGM) shall be sent in writing by the Secretary to all members not less than 7 days prior to the meeting.

    5.5 Where a member has submitted an e-mail address to the Constituency Secretary or General Secretary notice by e-mail shall be sufficient notice.

    5.6 Members of the Executive Board, and any other person conferred with such attendance rights under the party constitution, may attend and speak at any meeting of the Constituency Council or Executive thereof.

  6. Agenda for ordinary meetings

    The Agenda to be drawn-up by the Constituency Executive, taking into account the guidelines attached.

    All appropriate business notified to the Secretary 10 days prior to the meeting shall be included in the agenda.

    Where minutes have been circulated at or prior to the meeting, they may be "taken as read" and adopted on a simple vote.

  7. Quorum

    The Quorum shall be one member from at least one-third of the branches entitled to be present plus at least three of the Constituency Officers.

  8. Constituency Executive

    The Constituency Executive shall be responsible for the day-to-day running of the Constituency business between meetings of the Constituency Council.

    Notice of meeting shall be sent in writing (which includes e-mail) by the Secretary to all members not less than 7 days prior to the meeting.

    Quorum for Constituency Executives shall be one third of voting members including at least one officer.

    The Constituency Executive should meet at least 8 times each year, and should normally meet within 14 days of each Constituency Council meeting.

    The Constituency Executive shall consist of

    1. the Officers of the Constituency Council, and
    2. on an ex-officio non-voting basis, all public representatives elected for Dail Constituencies and all local authority electoral areas wholly or partly within the Constituency Council area,
    3. on an ex-officio non-voting basis any Executive Board member and any Senator registered to a branch affiliated to the Constituency Council,

    The Officers of the Constituency Council shall be the Officers of the Constituency Executive.

    The Constituency Executive shall normally meet on ______________. Meetings will normally be convene at ____ and business will be completed within 2 hours.

  9. Annual General Meeting

    The AGM shall normally be held in the month of ____________________

    Notice of the AGM shall be sent in writing by the Constituency Secretary, not less than 10 days in advance of the AGM, to each member of the Constituency Council.

    Nominations for Officers must be submitted in writing at a date preceding the date of the AGM to be set by the Constituency Executive and set out in the letter convening the AGM. Where no nomination for a particular officer post has been received by the date given for receipt of nominations, the Chairperson will take nominations from the floor during the meeting.

    Where more than one person is nominated to an officer or ordinary Executive position shall be by secret ballot, using proportional representation.

    The business of the AGM shall be:

    1. Minutes of previous AGM (these may be taken as read)
    2. Chairperson's Address
    3. Secretary's Report on previous year's activities
    4. Treasurer's Report
    5. Election of Officers
    6. Motions (if any)
    7. Any other business which, in the view of the Executive fulfils the objectives of the Council

  10. Affiliation Fees & Constituency Contribution to Election Fund

    The Constituency Council shall be responsible for raising the funds required to be remitted to the National Election Fund.

    A report on the collection and payment of the Contribution to the National Election fund shall be made by the Constituency Treasurer at each AGM.

    The Constituency Council may decide, on recommendation of the Constituency Executive or on its own volition, to allocate some or all of this responsibility to its affiliated branches, according fair distribution of responsibility and to their relative strengths. The Executive may set a reasonable timeframe for fulfilment of these responsibilities.

    Where a branch believes that the proportion or timing of the responsibility for fundraising allocated to it is unfair and disproportionate it shall first raise the matter with the Constituency Executive. If the matter is not resolved at that point the branch may appeal to the Finance Sub-Committee who shall resolve the matter.

    Where a branch fails to meet its responsibilities under this Standing Order within the timeframe set by the Executive, the Executive shall issue notice of one calendar month that, if the responsibilities are not discharged by the expiry of the notice, no members of the branch shall be entitled to vote on any matter arising at any meeting, including the AGM, subsequent to the expiry of that timeframe, until such time as the financial contribution is paid in full or the matter is otherwise resolved. Members of such a branch shall not be entitled to stand or be elected to any officer post at any AGM held during this period.

    Branches which have failed to fulfil any obligations under this Standing Order shall not be entitled to nominate a candidate to contest a Dail or European Election, and its members shall not be entitled to nominate a candidate to contest a local election. All such members shall continue to be entitled to vote in any selection convention.

  11. Committees

    1. The Constituency Council may from time-to-time appoint such and as many Committees as it may think fit, to advise it on any matter on which it desires information.
    2. The Constituency Council may assign to such Committees, such functions and powers as may be necessary.

  12. Divisional Councils

    1. The Constituency Council may advise the Executive Board to sub-divide its functional area for the purpose of establishing two or more Divisional Councils.
    2. The functional area and the duties of a Divisional Council shall be defined by the Executive Board.

  13. Special General Meeting

    1. A Special General Meeting may be requested in writing by the Constituency Chairperson at his/her discretion, or at the request in writing of half of the affiliated Branches, agreed at a Branch Meeting, signed by the Branch Chairperson and Branch Secretary.
    2. The request must contain a statement of the business to be transacted.
    3. No business may be transacted at the Special General Meeting other than the business as stated in the requisition.
    4. The Special General Meeting shall be convened by the Constituency Secretary within 10 days of receiving a requisition that accords with Standing Order 13(i).

  14. Suspension of Standing Orders

    Any Standing Order may be suspended by a meeting of the Constituency Council provided that the motion to suspend is consistent with the Party Constitution in the opinion of the Chairperson and is agreed by two-thirds of the members voting.

  15. Alteration of Standing Orders

    1. Standing Orders may not be altered or repealed except by the AGM of the Constituency Council or a Special General Meeting convened for that purpose.
    2. Any proposed alteration of these standing orders shall be notified to the Executive Board.
    3. No alteration or repeal of these Standing Orders shall take effect until ratified by the Executive Board.

  16. Guidelines

    The Constituency Council and its Executive shall have due regard to the non-binding guidelines set out in the annex hereto.

ANNEX - GUIDELINES FOR CONSTITUENCY COUNCILS

Meetings should be as interesting, engaging and productive for members as possible.

The two main reasons for boring meetings are poor agendas and lack of political activity.

Administrative, routine and housekeeping business of the constituency should be, as much as possible, dealt with by the Executive Committee and not by the Council.

All reports should brief and to the point. Reports should, where possible, be provided in writing in advance. When such a report is written it is usually unnecessary to read it out. Avoid reading out minutes.

The report section of the agenda should normally comprise no more than one third of the meeting time; the main business of the meeting is the political discussion of issues and actions.
Consider putting the "political discussion" items first on the agenda and the reports at the end.

If meetings are boring it is usually a sign that the Constituency Organisation is not sufficiently active, if you have been active in the community or in your own campaigns there will be plenty to discuss and plan.

Some ways to ensure that meetings are more interesting:

  • Get active, make plans for campaigns or activities. Discuss how they worked out at the next meeting and what to do next.
  • Don't be afraid of disagreements, as long as they are properly structured and on interesting issues. Discussion and disagreement create interest. Where there is no opportunity to discuss the big issues, people will find reason to disagree on small issues (the minutes, who said what fifteen years ago ...). This is tiresome, so plan to create discussion on the big issues by setting up a debate, having motions proposed, inviting speakers.
  • Speakers, either from the PLP, the party membership or otherwise, or discussion on a key aspect of local or national policy, should regularly feature on your Constituency Council agendas.
  • Get one or two members of the branch to agree to research a topic or policy and to have a presentation/debate on that issue at the next meeting.
  • Always ensure that your meeting finishes with a planned programme of actions
  • Organise social events along with meetings and at other times, make sure everyone feels invited to these events
  • Make sure meetings do not drag on. Start on time. Finish on time.

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