Fianna Fail is expected to agree to significant changes in its internal organisation as well as a new code of conduct for officeholders at its 64th ardfheis, to be held in Dublin next weekend.
More rigorous rules for registration of membership and cumainn as well as tighter regulations to ensure all party units are genuine are to be adopted to prevent "paper cumainn" being used as power bases by individuals.
The ardfheis will be asked to create a new category of member - registered supporters - who can join the party without joining a cumann. The party's 21st Century Committee had accepted that many party supporters could not become "fully active members of a cumann".
All voting at future candidate selection conventions and elections to the party's national executive are to be carried out under the proportional representation single transferable vote system, according to motions to be debated. Other motions propose that nobody can hold any office in a party unit for more than four consecutive years except in exceptional circumstances. While most of the reforms are expected to be approved by the ardfheis, there may be some opposition to moves to reform the way selection conventions are conducted.
Sixteen of the 20 motions on party organisation have been tabled by the national executive arising from the report last September of the 21st Century Committee. The committee, chaired by the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, was mandated to draw up proposals to reinvigorate the party.
The two-day ardfheis on Friday March 3rd and Saturday March 4th will also debate motions on the politically contentious issues of abortion, recruitment to and equipment of the Defence Forces, electoral reform and the individualisation of the standard rate tax band introduced in the Budget. However, these motions do not contain strong partisan positions.
The motion on abortion, for example, "endorses the consensus approach taken by the Government in relation to the abortion debate and looks forward to the work of the all-party committee in contributing in an informed manner to this whole debate".
On individualisation, the motion says the ardfheis "would debate in a comprehensive manner the full implications of the proposed move to individualise the tax system in this country". The motion on electoral reform confines itself to calling for "rigorous examination" of any proposed electoral reform.
On the Defence Forces, motions call for continued investment in up-to-date equipment and a continued policy of "continuous recruitment" in order to lower the age profile in the Defence Forces.