The Labour Party conference voted to allow the option of coalition with Fianna Fβil after the next general election despite claims by some delegates that Fianna Fβil was "corrupt" and "tainted" and should be ruled out.
A number of motions were tabled on Saturday calling on the conference to specifically exclude the option of such a coalition.
But the party's Executive Committee, reflecting the views of the leadership, tabled a motion stating that Labour should contest the next election as an independent party on its own distinctive policy platform, leaving all options open.
It also authorised the party leader, Mr Ruair∅ Quinn, to take whatever decisions and issue whatever statements he considered necessary to achieve the party's aims.
However the wishes of the Executive Committee were over-ridden the previous night when the conference voted for a motion from the party's National Women's Council calling for the introduction of abortion on the basis of a woman's right to choose.
During the coalition debate, the party's chief whip, Mr Emmet Stagg, said if options were excluded the party's bargaining position would be severely weakened and it would no longer be relevant in the electoral equation.
Mr Quinn, he said, should not have his "hands tied behind his back" in a negotiating position.
Mr Quinn told delegates that he needed flexibility ahead of the election. No other "democratic party on this island" would be having this debate, he said, let alone allowing it to be aired live on television.
If the party had voted last year to exclude the Fianna Fβil option, he said, they would have ended up "placing the entire future of the Labour Party on the back of the Celtic snail led by John Bruton".
When the party launches its health policy in a few weeks, he said, the first question asked by journalists would be: "Have Fine Gael agreed to this?"
Mr Quinn said he knew there were Irish people who felt Labour had betrayed them by going into government with Fianna Fβil in 1992. "If they feel that way, that's reality. Our preferred choice is to get them Fianna Fβil out of Government but we don't make that decision, it is a decision for the public."
Earlier, there were pleas from a number of delegates to rule out the Fianna Fβil option which received loud applause from the floor. Mr Pat Carroll (Dublin West) said Fianna Fβil were "tainted personally and politically" and unfit for government.
"All parties have skeletons in their cupboards. Some fell out of the Fine Gael cupboard pretty recently indeed but Fianna Fβil have whole graveyard of skeletons big enough to fill Glasnevin cemetery a few times over," said Mr Carroll.
A number of speakers expressed similar views, but Mr Des Geraghty, president of SIPTU advised people to be very careful before they voted. "Imagine sending a message from this conference that we do not trust our own leadership or own executive," he said.
The Executive Committee's amendment was clearly carried.