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Labour Executive adopts plan for major changes to party organisation

Issued : Sunday 1 February, 2009

The National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, meeting in Dublin at the weekend, adopted the report of the 21st Century Labour Commission. The Leader of the Labour Party, Eamon Gilmore TD, said that he will now be proposing the adoption of the report, and a new party constitution based on its recommendations, at the Labour Party conference which will be held in Mullingar in March. (A summary of the reports key recommendations is attached)

Speaking today, Deputy Gilmore said:

"When I was elected as Labour Leader in September 2007 I emphasised that the Party needed to embark on a process of renewal; changing the way we organise; becoming more open to new members and new candidates; and improving the way we communicate, applying the most modern methods to get our message across.

"I said that I wanted to develop a Labour Party appropriate to the 21st Century, 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.

"As part of this process the Labour Party Conference held in November 2007 approved the establishment of a Commission on 21st Century Labour whose key task was " 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 Commission was established in March 2008, Chaired by Greg Sparks and has been working energetically ever since.

"I am delighted with the analysis and the recommendations contained in the report of the Commission. The implementation of the report will be a key part of the process of reform of the Labour Party that will enable it to compete on level organisational terms with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

"With the creation of a new Central Council and a new Executive Board we will put in place a modern decision making process that is both representative and delivers efficient management of the party's organisation.

"Our links with the trade union movement are historic and important and I want to see them developed. The report recommends a recasting of the relationship between the Party and the trade unions. The principal change in this respect is that in future delegations from affiliated unions at party conference, will be based on the number of Labour Party members within each union, rather than the total number of union members.

"The report recommends an overall greater role for elected representatives at national and local level as well for constituencies which do not currently have a Labour Oireachtas member.

"On the selection of candidates the report rejects the notion of centralised candidate selection (now being used by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael). It recommends instead a balanced system that will ensure that local members will continue to select candidates from a panel of qualified applicants. New means are recommended to identify new candidates and to establish panels of potential candidates.

"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. Never before have we faced such huge economic problems and never before have we so urgently needed new politics, based on the human and humanising values of the Labour Party.

"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. However, I have no doubt that the Labour members will rise to the challenge by endorsing the report and adopting the new constitution in Mullingar."

21CENTURY COMMISSION - SUMMARRY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

THE PARTY STRUCTURE - NATIONAL

The General Secretary
The General Secretary should be appointed through an open competitive process conducted under the authority of the Party Leader, with the appointment made by the new Executive Board, for no longer than the tenure of the Party Leader's term (including any term for which a Leader may be re-elected).
The General Secretary should no longer be classed as the chief executive of the Party but as its Chief Operating Officer. The role and responsibility of the General Secretary will continue to be the management and control of Head Office, but under the direction of the Party Leader, in order to recognise and give effect to the Leader's direct mandate from the membership.
However, the General Secretary should retain specific responsibility under the Party Constitution, independent of the Party Leader and reporting to the Executive Board (and the Parliamentary Party, as appropriate):
(a) for the integrity of the records taken and maintained of meetings of the Parliamentary Party, the Executive Board and the new Central Council,
(b) for ensuring that the register of members and branches is maintained, specifying their paid-up status, and
(c) for the organisation of the Party's Annual Conference.
The General Secretary will be a non-voting member of the Executive Board.
He or she will be responsible for the performance of Head Office, based on specific objectives and outcomes, and will be asked to introduce a career structure for the staff within Head Office, as well as a performance-based management system.

Head Office Staff
We recommend the assignment of a senior member of staff as a national organiser, who would work with the Organisation Sub-Committee and have responsibility for implementing on the ground plans for the development and expansion of the Party at branch and constituency level, membership recruitment, candidate selection and electoral strategy generally.
The national organiser, in addition to the other roles and responsibilities he or she is given, will also be charged with the development of a team of local and regional organisers for specific targeted constituencies. While it did not escape our attention that the innovation involved in the appointment of regional organisers was viewed positively throughout the party, we believe focus will have to be given to better defining their role and accountability.
It also became clear during our consultations that the body of local government representatives was not being adequately serviced. With the abolition of the dual mandate, it is in our opinion important that specific personnel and resources (including assistance with printing, media relations and research), under the direction of the national organiser, should be devoted to supporting these important public representatives, not only in their present role but also as future members of the Parliamentary Party and indeed potential future Party Leaders.

Party Leader and Deputy Leader
- Elections to the offices of Party Leader and Deputy Leader should be held within six months of any general election following which the Party does not enter into Government.
- Elections should in any event be held after the Party Leader has served a term of 10 years in office.
- The Party Constitution should enable a candidate to contest both offices, with provision that a candidate defeated in the election for Party Leader remains in the contest for Deputy Leader.

National Executive Committee
The Labour Party should have two bodies at national level: a Central Council (CC) and an Executive Board (EB). The appropriate functions of the current NEC should be assigned between the two bodies to ensure that both the representative and executive roles within the Party can be fully exercised.
The membership of the Central Council should consist of -
a) one representative elected by each Constituency Council,
b) one representative elected by the Party staff, including staff members directly employed by members of the PLP,
c) one delegate from each existing and newly-formed Party Section including Labour Youth, Labour Women, Labour Trade Unionists and Labour Equality, and
d) the members of the Executive Board.
The Central Council should have power to co-opt up to three additional members from sections of the Party organisation that it believes are under-represented on the Council.
Due to the broader and more representative nature of the Central Council, a number of roles and responsibilities of the current NEC should be entrusted to it, including the approval of the Party manifesto and the removal of the Party Leader. (A full list of the proposed functions of the Central Council and the Executive Board is set out in Appendix 3.)
The Central Council should meet at least once quarterly, other than the quarter in which an Annual Conference is held, unless the EB decides that an extra meeting is required. The Party Leader should be required to submit to each meeting a report on the current political situation, dealing with any major developments. He or she should also outline progress on strategy for the development of the Party.
The Executive Board (EB) should have 13 voting members. The EB would perform the managerial functions of the Party. This would include ratifying candidates, oversight of the Party's finances and the approval of standing orders. A full list of the proposed functions of the Executive Board is set out in Appendix 3.
The voting membership of the EB would consist of 6 ordinary members elected at annual conference, the Party Leader and Deputy Leader, along with the Chairperson and National Treasurer of the Party (who will both continue to be elected by Conference, thus ensuring that a majority, eight out of 13 members of the EB, are directly elected by the Party Conference). In addition there should be two representatives of the Parliamentary Labour Party and one representative of the Association of Labour Councillors. The General Secretary should be a non-voting member of the EB.
The election of the six members at Annual Conference should be a contest through a panel system, to ensure that three members are men and three members are women.
Neither members of the PLP nor Party staff or employees of individual members of the PLP should be eligible to contest elections to the EB at the Party Conference.
Regarding the five present standing sub-committees (the Management Sub-Committee, the Finance Sub-Committee, the Organisation Sub-Committee, the International Affairs Sub-Committee and the Policy Committee), we recommend as follows.
a) The Management Sub-Committee does not require constitutional status and should be deleted from the Constitution. The EB should instead have a general power to appoint such a committee, or one or more ad hoc committees, on the nomination of the Party Leader, to assist and advise on general or specific management issues as the occasion requires. Any such committee would be answerable to the EB on the performance of its functions.
b) The Finance Sub-Committee should remain a committee of the EB, chaired by the Party Treasurer. The constitutional provisions relating to the functions, powers and duties of the Party Treasurer should be clarified and strengthened.
c) The International Affairs Sub-Committee and the Policy Committee should be committees of, and report to, the CC. The chair of the Policy Committee should be appointed by the CC on the nomination of the Party Leader and the committee should have three members each from the CC and the Parliamentary Party.
d) The Organisation Sub-Committee should continue to be a committee of, and report to, the EB. The chair should be appointed by the EB on the nomination of the Party Leader and the committee should have three members each from the EB and the CC.
Any rule or practice that prevents public representatives from serving as members of the Organisation Committee should be abolished, since we believe it curtails the provision of relevant and valuable expertise. However, the Chair should not be a member of the PLP.

Parliamentary Party
We write elsewhere on the role a revitalised regional structure in providing a forum for genuine policy debate within the Party. Clearly, the active participation of the PLP is central to the success of that recommendation.
In addition, we strongly recommend a greater and more structured use of IT technology as a means to expand the input of those interested in contributing to the development of public policy, through establishing forums that members may contribute to, in direct dialogue with the spokesperson. Specifically we recommend that each front bench spokesperson should host a live web debate at least once (preferably twice) annually through which members may ask questions directly of the spokesperson on the issues of the day and the development of policy.
At present TDs have available two members of staff, a secretarial assistant and a parliamentary assistant (PA). At present, certain of the PAs work with the policy director in co-ordinating parliamentary responses to issues of the day and help in developing strategies and policies.
We recommend that this, at present informal, arrangement is not just continued but formalised and strengthened. We recommend the formal establishment of a new Parliamentary Support Unit based in Leinster House. The Parliamentary Support Unit would coordinate the services already provided to the PLP, as well as design and develop additional services as determined by the PLP. The Parliamentary Support Unit would:
(a) provide and coordinate research and advice on political, legislative and campaign matters in order to provide maximum support to the PLP
(b) provide and coordinate training and support for the PAs, Secretarial and constituency support staff who work with Oireachtas members
(c) provide advice and support to the PLP on staff matters such as recruitment, development and other HR issues
(d) coordinate information sharing on issues such as campaign techniques, policy development, media relations, constituency organisation
(e) coordinate the design and print services within the Houses of the Oireachtas as well as commission appropriate print material and on-line services from external contractors.
Commission 21 is conscious that the TDs rely on their PAs to help in their re-election. Having considered fully the deployment of the limited resources available to the Party and the unique contribution that the TDs could make towards improving this image, it is believed by Commission 21 that this greater co-operation and co-ordination will help in improving the Party's standing in the polls. It will also help, in our opinion, the existing TDs to be re-elected, along with new Labour TDs.

THE PARTY STRUCTURE - LOCAL

Individual Members and Supporters
We recommend three classes of membership: national, constituency and branch membership. The option of national, or individual, Party membership should be promoted to a far greater extent than it is at present and should be supported by allowing individual members to participate to the fullest extent possible in Party activities, supported by the information network we propose elsewhere and by dedicated resources to keep all members fully up to date with the Party and its activities. As at present, individual members would be entitled to vote in Leadership elections but not at selection conventions and could not attend Conference as delegates.

The new status of constituency member would not be a branch member but would be entitled to speak and vote at Constituency Council level. A constituency member would have no vote at local selection conventions but would be entitled to vote at Dáil selection conventions. Constituency members would send delegates to the Party Conference based on the same member to delegate ratio (5:1) as branches do.

Branch membership should, however, continue to be promoted as the preferred membership option and branch members should continue, as at present, to retain the full range of existing rights.

We further recommend the formal establishment of a Labour Supporters Network, which would allow individuals who are not Party members to support the Party in various ways, including receiving communications, attending meetings and conferences as observers and participating in policy formation. Those who sign up for this option would receive communications, be invited to events and meetings and be encouraged to donate, to attend social functions, and so on.

Branches
Constituencies should be encouraged to rationalise the number of affiliated branches. The number of delegates for Annual Conference should be allocated on the basis of constituency membership numbers, so as to discourage unnecessary multiplication of branches. Unless there is a good reason for a different basis - and this must be viewed sensitivity in rural constituencies - the starting point should be that each branch encompasses a single local electoral area.
Targets should be drawn up for each constituency, in consultation with the national organiser. These targets would include number of activities such as recruitment, community activism, leaflet dropping, social events, fundraising and so on.
We recommend an awards scheme, to be presented at Annual Conference, to recognise the outstanding contribution of members and constituencies in various activities such as recruitment, fund-raising and local community initiatives.
We also recommend that there be a Conference showcase, including featuring of membership activities in national newsletters.
Regional Councils and Party Sections
We recommend that the National Organiser should have responsibility for the resuscitation and revitalisation of the Regional Council structure, as an appropriate regional forum for policy debate by the membership. Not only will this facilitate discussions but it should also help the organisation to develop - as in a case where neighbouring constituencies may help each other, particularly, if one constituency has a TD. If this proposal is to fully work, however, Commission 21 believes there are two additional requirements:
(a) the Party Leader must seek a commitment by the PLP, its spokespersons and their PAs to commit themselves to a regular series of regional meetings throughout the State, and the Party Sections should be organised on the same regional basis, which should further facilitate organisational growth;
(b) the Party Sections should form -
- policy units at national level, as support to the Dáil spokespersons relevant to their own principal concerns, and
- regional units affiliated to the Party's Regional Councils, to feed into the policy debate taking place at regional level.
Of course there will be logistical problems. For example, every region might want at the same time to debate health - a prospect that would place unreasonable demands on the health spokesperson, or whoever the member of the PLP might be. However, if the process is properly planned in advance, then these Regional Council meetings should become a regular part of the Party calendar, rather than being seen as extraordinary events. It will also be important that the meetings are planned properly, with media coverage for the spokesperson and the local public representatives. This task should be given to the regional organisers, along with the local organisation.
We emphasise that this proposal is in addition to our recommendations in the chapter on IT, which outline further proposals to enhance communication within the Party including, in particular, the ability to contribute to policy development.

Candidate Selection
The selection of a candidate should be regarded as the culmination of a process in which both the local party and the national organisation are involved.
In constituencies with sitting TDs or councillors, the National Organiser should seek an early indication from each public representative of his or her intention to stand again or to retire. That should, if possible, be done at least two years before the likely date of the next election.
The Organisation Committee should be authorised to establish a 3 person Candidate Selection Board to oversee the selection process for a constituency or LEA. The National Organiser should have the right of attendance.
The Commission recommends a case by case consultation between the Board, the National Organiser and local Party officers on what is appropriate in each constituency and LEA. That consultation needs to be informed by research and analysis and it needs to be rigorous and timely, based on an appreciation by all parties to the process that such consultation is not just desirable but necessary in order to contribute to the success of the Party locally and nationally.
In view of the increasing importance of geographical spread in ensuring candidate success, the Board should have power to consider, in consultation with local members, the number and distribution of candidates, with a view to making recommendations.
The Board would draw up a list of interested members to be considered for nomination. The Board would have the right, of its own initiative, to add names of anyone it considers to be a suitable candidate.
The Board would conduct interviews with potential applicants and arrange for local opinion research to be carried out to assist its considerations of the merits of a candidate. The Board would also carry out confidential soundings among the local membership.
The Board would then draw up a short list, for approval by the Organisation Committee, of nominees to be submitted to a Selection Conference. Incumbent TDs and local Senators would be placed as of right on the list for Dáil elections; serving councillors would be placed as of right on the list for local elections.
The procedure outlined above should also be followed to fill casual vacancies in Party seats on local authorities.
Existing rules about the post-Selection Convention ratification of candidates and addition of candidates should be retained.
Rules and Standing Orders for a Selection Conference, as pointed out earlier, will be at the discretion of the proposed Executive Board which can, from time to time, revise these to take account of changing situations, both local and national. The Party Constitution should be amended to enable a procedure so that, where it is decided that a geographic spread between candidates is needed, two or more selection conventions could be held, each involving only the members from the relevant area.
Candidate selection for Seanad and Úduras na Gaeltachta elections should be a joint function of the proposed Central Council and the Parliamentary Party (which would, following a general election, consist of members of the incoming Dáil and the outgoing Seanad). Members of either body seeking a Seanad nomination should not be entitled to vote.
Decisions relating to a Presidential election should be a joint function of the proposed Executive Board and the Parliamentary Party.
Separately, the Commission endorses the proposal that the Party should develop a panel of possible and likely future candidates for local and general elections. It would be important that persons on the panel should be given no guarantees that they may be selected in the future. However, by and large candidates should be chosen from those who have committed themselves to working through the panel system.
Candidates on the panel should be required to participate in obligatory training dealing with such basic skills as fundraising, canvassing and internet communication and that also incorporates mock radio, TV and newspaper interviews, including video replays that encourage honest assessment of both weaknesses and strengths.
These training sessions will help both the candidate and the Party to identify the disciplines and skills required to conduct a modern election campaign.
The training programme could also involve the candidates contributing to the Party's development through helping with research, policy development or contributing their skills in other areas.

Market Research
A national market research programme should encompass -

1) Annual "state of the nation" qualitative research, involving 12 group discussions, recruited to be nationally representative in terms of age, region, socio-economic class and sex. This project will be designed to allow respondents to define the issues that affect them and to assess their attitude to these issues. It will also examine detailed attitudes to the political parties and in particular to the Labour Party and their likelihood of voting Labour. A key objective of the initial qualitative project will be to suggest a classification of the population into the likelihood of voting Labour, from 'entrenched loyalists' to 'completely unavailables', through varying degrees of ambivalence.

2) Annual "state of the nation" quantitative research - a nationally representative sample of all adults, designed to quantify attitudes to the political parties and to the issues identified at the qualitative stage and in particular to quantify the "propensity to vote Labour" segments of the population that were identified earlier.

Once the nature and composition of the 'propensity to vote Labour' segments of the population have been identified, it may be necessary to conduct separate qualitative and quantitative research among them so that they can be defined in as much detail as possible.

A proportion of the Party's total market research budget should be allocated to constituency surveys. The selection of constituencies should be based on the likelihood of Labour seat gains.

Given the importance of accurate constituency information on local issues and the impossibility of carrying out detailed market research surveys in every area, we propose setting up a training programme for a team of key supporters, though they would not be allowed to work within their own constituency, to enable them to carry out informal surveys as professionally as possible. It would be vitally important that confidentiality within the Party be maintained throughout.

This team would be organised to carry out surveys within specific constituencies in consultation with the local organisation on the issues that need to be addressed.

Developing the relationship with the trade unions
There should be equal status provided to Labour Party members who belong to affiliated and non-affiliated unions; this means that membership of Labour Trade Unionists must both be open, and be seen to be open, to all Party members who are trade union members. The objective of a stronger Labour Trade Unionists Section should be to increase Party membership and support among working people generally and trade union members specifically. Labour Trade Unionists, in common with the other Party Sections, should organise on a regional basis and, as we recommend elsewhere, should feed into the policy consultative process we recommend should be undertaken by the Party's Regional Councils. Labour Trade Unionists should also, in common with other Party Sections, be represented on the new Party Central Council.
It is in our view incompatible with the objectives of a modern progressive political party that votes are cast at a Party Conference based not on the number of Party members a delegate represents but on the number of members of that delegate's own organisation - when the bulk of those affiliated members are not Party members, Party supporters or even Party voters.
We accordingly propose that Article 8, section (3) (b) of the Party Constitution be amended so as to introduce a new system of trade union representation at Party Conferences, based on the number of members of each union who are themselves branch members of the Party, as follows:
- where not more than 50 members of the union are branch members of the Party: 1 delegate for every 5; plus
- for additional Party branch members above 50 but less than 500: 1 delegate for every 10; plus
- for additional Party branch members above 500 but less than 1,000: 1 delegate for every 15; plus
- for additional Party branch members above 1,000: 1 delegate for every 20.
There exist strong historical and cultural ties between the Party and the trade union movement, with common goals and objectives on a lot of the issues facing Ireland. The Party should examine with ICTU and individual unions the means to strengthen and promote membership of Labour Trade Unionists not only with the currently affiliated unions but with supporters within non-affiliated unions as well. Both the Labour Party and the unions should make greater and sustained efforts to strengthen and promote Labour Trade Unionists, to reflect the strong historical and cultural ties that exist between the Party and the trade union movement.
A greater commitment must be made to develop a joint campaign platform with individual trade unions, or where appropriate a group of unions, where there are specific common objectives.
The Party, in collaboration with supporters within the unions, should organise a regular information and recruitment campaign at trade union conferences in order to increase support for the Labour Party among active trade union members.
In recognition of the special and historical ties between the Labour Party and the Trade Union movement, Commission 21 recommends the establishment of a formal Labour-Trade Union Centre to undertake and commission research and promote debate on our common agenda of social, economic and workplace reform. This Centre would be jointly funded and managed by the Labour Party and the Trade Unions, sections of Unions, or members of Unions who choose to affiliate to it. The Labour-Trade Union Centre would provide a new platform on which to develop and strengthen the relationship between the Party and the Trade Union movement. The Labour-Trade Union Centre would agree an agenda on which to campaign, would promote trade union objectives among the country's workforce as well as encourage membership and support of the Labour Party. The Centre would also engage with similar international bodies.

Building a Diverse, Just and Inclusive Society
Both the Party and society in general need to acknowledge, accommodate and celebrate the fact that we have a rich variety of social and cultural heritages on this island. We need to work harder to establish a framework that embraces the diverse origins and traditions, ethnic, historical, political and spiritual, of all our people.
We support integration as the preferred model for public policy decisions. Integration is a two-way process. The new must understand and respect the old but the older communities must also try to understand the new sympathetically.
Many ad hoc decisions made in recent years can and do militate against integration, notably some responses to the problems within schools created by the arrival of new communities. Strategic planning is needed to ensure proper structures are established and bedded down.
Trade Unions have made valuable efforts to service the new communities and to hinder the 'race to the bottom' pressure that has been evident in employment practices of recent times. We should examine what the unions have done and work with the union sections who serve these groups of workers.
Labour, as well as other representative bodies, must redouble our efforts to secure a broad-based and participative membership from the new communities. The main focus has to be in local areas where there has been a significant settlement of immigrants. Labour TDs and Councillors who represent these areas need to discuss among themselves what measures they should take to represent these groups. We suggest a code of good practice be prepared for public representatives. Branches and constituencies have to make a special effort to welcome any prospective members and to keep fully abreast of issues that

Labour and the Island of Ireland
The leaders of the Labour Party and the SDLP should, as a priority, work together to forge a common policy platform along similar lines to those being proposed against child poverty in the Republic. This common platform should be developed into a common commitment by both parties to be delivered by 2016.
Both parties should commit themselves to working together to develop and deliver the policies and others consistent with the goals and objectives that define our parties.
The Northern Ireland electorate must continue to have the opportunity to vote for a party affiliated to the Party of European Socialists such as the SDLP. We - and indeed our sister parties throughout Europe - are committed to ensuring that there will continue to be a member party from Northern Ireland within the PES.
The relationship between the Labour Party and the SDLP is grounded on a mutual acknowledgement of our different situations and a mutual respect for each other's autonomy. But there are strong and enduring links between us, based on individual friendships, joint solidarity and a shared philosophy. We should work together to make those links more visible, to our members and to the island as a whole.
The present arrangements, whereby persons resident in Northern Ireland can join the Irish Labour Party and become members of the Northern Ireland Labour Forum, should be maintained and supported.

Fundraising
We recommend that the Party Treasurer be mandated to introduce a more professional approach including, if thought necessary, hiring specialist personnel.
Targeted fundraising drives should be made when major initiatives are launched. For example, every member and supporter should receive a text and email immediately after the Leader's speech at conference, when they might be more open to making a contribution.
The Labour Party has been ahead of other parties in Ireland with regard to initiatives such as blogging and Flickr; we need to also be ahead of the curve in Ireland with regard to online fundraising.
High profile events such as dinner dances and golf classics have been used to great effect for various non-profit organisations in Ireland The Labour Party has not undertaken many of these events, and needs to explore the possibility of hosting them in the future, both regionally and nationally. Not only would such events raise funds but they would increase the social interface between members and supporters.
Support from personnel in the form of information sharing and training needs to be provided so that models of best practice can be shared between constituencies. This could be run alongside the award scheme recommended for Annual Conference.
As stated earlier, very strict guidelines should oversee all our fundraising, including funding from corporate donations, ensuring that the Party lives up to the high standards expected of those in public life.
We recommend that guidelines, binding both Head Office and constituencies and candidates, should be drawn up for debate and approval by the Central Council.

Information Technology: Communicating the Message
The General Secretary should appoint an individual within Head Office with specific responsibility for the implementation, in consultation with an IT contractor, of the recommendations below.
Growth of the members and supporters list
The growth of the members and supporters list is probably the single most important action to be undertaken. To achieve this we need to:
a) review all party activities to ensure that we collect contact information (email, mobile number, etc) at every opportunity
b) develop an email campaign strategy to ensure that each one has achievable goals, a full life cycle (i.e. conclusion and follow-up) and is supported by traditional party activity (i.e. Dáil Questions, local offline campaigns)
c) set aside internal or external resources for the drafting of email campaigns.
This will allow us to develop a social network on the Labour website that allows members/supporters to engage in online activity.
Network with others
We should work within the PES to develop an IT information exchange between member parties. We also need to develop bi-lateral arrangements with Labour in Britain, the Democrats and the AFL-CIO and to develop an intern exchange program with these organisations.
Integrated Database
The creation of an integrated database in the future would be a major project; we need to carefully investigate what options are available and the benefits that would accrue before we start to spend money. This would be a substantial piece of work which would include researching what databases are currently in use within local constituencies and among elected representatives and what data sources we have access to within Ireland and the condition and usage rights of that data.
The Website as a Tool for Policy Development
Over the years there has been much discussion about how ordinary members of the party are excluded from policy development. This situation can be easily rectified by allowing members to engage with Party spokespersons and committees over the internet. The Party discussion forum is already being used to present draft papers to members for discussion. We need to build on this and develop tools to allow members directly engage with Party spokespersons using video webcasts, online chat forums and other methods.
For this process to be successful however Party Spokespersons will need training and support on the use of these tools. Ordinary members will also need feedback on how their views and concerns are taken on board, so that they will have confidence in the process.
Search Engine Optimisation
Search engine optimisation is the process of analysing the code and content of a website to see if it is being listed highly in internet search engines such as Google. This process can be quite complex due the high number of variables involved. It is an extremely important process however as a large amount of the traffic to a website is determined by the search engine results page ranking.