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Labour's job is to offer people third choice at every election

Issued : Sunday 30 November, 2008

The 21st Century Labour Commission was established by the NEC on foot of a motion, passed at last year's conference, which mandated it to 'examine and report on all aspects of the Party's organisation campaigning and political activity and in particular to make recommendations on the role which Labour should undertake in the modern Ireland'

The membership of the Commission is representative of the different elements of the party, including the PLP, the constituency organisations, Labour's councillors, our staff, and the party sections.

I am particularly grateful to Greg Sparks for chairing the Commission. He has the assistance of a small consultation Group selected because of their expertise and knowledge.

We had set the Commission and ambitious timetable, to report on time for this Conference. As it turned out, that was not possible. Therefore the report of the Commission will be considered at our full Conference in Mullingar next March.

But considerable progress has been made.

As the name implies, the task at hand is nothing less than developing a blueprint for a 21st century Labour Party. A party that is relevant to, and successful in, contemporary Ireland. Successful in motivating people to join us, successful in winning elections, and successful in improving Ireland.

All of us have come into the party for different reasons, motivated by different moments in our lives, or in the life of our country. We could, all of us, give a passionate and valid statement of what Labour means to us. The passion and commitment of our members is the core of our strength as a party.

But we must go beyond individual stories. We must, as a party, bring together those individual voices into a common chorus. We must be ready to present the Irish people with a clear and understandable statement of what our party, Labour, stands for in modern Ireland. Not just pertaining to the immediate concerns of today, but to Ireland as it will be between now and 2020 - and indeed beyond.

That common statement must be rooted in our common values. As the terms of reference state, those values - of equality, solidarity, community, and democracy- are timeless. Our task is to express them in the language of modern Ireland, and to make them relevant in the lives of our people.

There is a need for us, in particular, to expand the meaning of the term 'Labour' in the way we speak and are spoken of. We must go beyond old images of a downtrodden proletariat and smokestack industries - beyond the idea of Labour as interest group representing a particular form of paid manual employment. Yes, those are our origins, and we are proud of them. But the context of Labour today relates to work in a much wider sense.

Labour today applies to those who work for themselves, as well as those who work for employers. Labour is not confined to paid work, but applies to those who work at caring - for the elderly, for children and for those with disabilities. Labour is about the priceless work of those who volunteer, who make a contribution through their energy and genius to building our economy and our society. It is about all who contribute to the life of our community.

Labour is not a description of work - or simply a label for a political movement. Labour is a set of values.

Sometimes, the words which express those values - equality, solidarity, community, democracy - and which mean so much to us, may seem remote and abstract to a wider audience. But what lies behind them is a simple but radical view of the purpose of politics.

We are neither Fianna Fáil, nor Fine Gael. We are Labour. We are a very distinct third party.

Our job is to offer the Irish people that third choice at every election. To do that, we have to organise as never before. But to organise better, we have to change.

Labour has always been an engine of change in Ireland. Now the party that wrought so much change in Ireland, must have the courage to change itself. Now, as much as ever, our country needs new politics, based on the human and humanising values of the Labour Party. Are we up to the challenge?

The Irish Labour Party at this point in history has the potential to be the driving force for change and progress in 21st century Ireland. But we will only achieve that potential if we have the courage to make the changes in our party, which are necessary to make us more relevant and more successful in modern Ireland.

Change is never easy - especially when we are applying it to ourselves. Last year, when I was unanimously elected leader of this party, I pledged to lead a renewal of Labour in Ireland. Our conference in Wexford decided to establish this Commission, to be the means by which we as a party would collectively assess and conclude on the changes which we should make in order to make our party more successful.

Greg Sparks will shortly summarise for you, the changes and reforms which the Commission has been considering. Greg has kept me briefed on the Commission's progress, and I thank him for that.

I want this Conference to be clear that I am determined to see through the reforms which are necessary to make this a really successful party.