Plan for party reform to be discussed

A PLAN to reform the organisation and rules of the Labour Party, which would strengthen the leadership and weaken the role of trade unions, will be discussed by party delegates at their special conference tomorrow.

Final decisions on the draft plan, which were originally due to have been made this weekend, have been delayed following the disagreement of some union leaders, and unhappiness among some party members about the scale of the planned changes.

However, delegates will be briefed on the up-to-date position by Greg Sparks, the chairman of 21st Century Commission, the body tasked with drafting the proposals, during an hour-long debate on Sunday morning.

Delegates will today hold debates on economic and social issues, and the difficulties being caused by the recession and credit shortage.

They will also hear a speech from the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, David Begg.

A special presentation, the Jim Larkin Thirst for Justice award, will be made posthumously tonight to Susie Long, the 41-year-old Kilkenny woman who died from cancer in 2007 after she had been made to wait seven months for a colonoscopy.

The award will be accepted by her husband, Conor McLiam.

Ms Long came to national attention after she publicised her case, first using the pseudonym "Rosie" and then under her own name on the RTÉ Radio One Liveline programme.

Long-time human rights campaigner Michael Farrell, one of those involved in the civil rights campaign in Northern Ireland before the Troubles began in 1968, will also address the Kilkenny conference, which is to be attended by 1,200 people.

A speech by Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore will be televised tonight at 8.30pm, while two hours of debates will be televised live on RTÉ 1 from 11am.

A joint meeting of the Labour parliamentary party and the party's national executive committee to discuss preparations for next June's European and local elections was held last night.