Labour asked to rule out FF coalition after next election

A large number of motions calling on the Labour Party to rule out coalition with Fianna Fail after the next general election have been placed on the agenda for the party's coming annual conference.

The debate on Labour's options will dominate several hours of the second day of the conference, which begins in Cork City Hall on September 28th.

Party leader Mr Ruairi Quinn will argue that he must keep options open and should have the right to take whatever decisions and issue whatever statements he considers necessary to achieve the party's aims.

A proposal to enter coalition will, he argues, have to be put to a special delegate conference in line with the party's constitution - as happened when Labour entered power with Fianna Fail in 1992.

The Dublin West Constituency Council has proposed that Labour fights the election independently "with an ambitious programme of political reforms to root out and punish corruption and the culture of favours for sale that is so embedded in Fianna Fail's record". The Limerick East Constituency Council, supported by the Kells, Co Meath, branch, has proposed that delegates rule out entering into alliance with Fianna Fail regardless of the election's outcome.

The party's branch in Thurles (Tipperary North) - a key battleground - argues that coalition with Fianna Fail would be "detrimental to the future development of the Labour Party given the sleaze and corruption that surrounds Fianna Fail".

The Ballycallon (Carlow/Kilkenny) branch wants Labour to stay out of coalition with either of the two largest parties "unless it includes a rotating Taoiseach", and demands no negotiations should be sanctioned unless this concession is first secured.

Abortion will feature prominently during the conference. Labour's National Women's Council is urging that delegates reject the holding of another referendum on the issue and to "support a woman's right to choose". The party's executive committee has proposed an amendment to this motion that would oppose any referendum that would "seek to overturn the 1992 referendum in which the Irish people democratically endorsed the Supreme Court judgment in the X case".

Furthermore, the amendment calls on the Government finally to introduce legislation to implement the terms of the judges' ruling.

The conference will also be asked to accept a new party constitution, which will offer every member a vote in the selection of all candidates for local, Dail and European elections.

The new constitution proposes the abolition of the existing 30-strong executive council and the much larger general council, replacing them with a smaller, 30-strong national executive council.

If accepted, the new constitution will not come into force until after the general election. In the meantime, the conference will select 16 members to fill vacancies on the general council.