The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, will personally propose a motion to his party conference in May in an attempt to end internal bickering over his wish to contest the next General Election in an alliance with Fine Gael.
A spokesman for Mr Rabbitte yesterday confirmed that the leader would propose a motion on electoral strategy, which has been the cause of some internal friction since Mr Rabbitte announced in Mullingar last year he would do "whatever it takes" in an attempt to forge a pre-election alliance.
He said no decision has yet been taken on the form and content of the party leader's motion. It is therefore unclear whether the motion will seek specific endorsement of the strategy of an alliance with Fine Gael at this stage, or whether it will give a more general endorsement to Mr Rabbitte's approach, with a more detailed decision to come at a later stage.
Under Labour Party rules, any plan to contest an election in alliance with another party must be endorsed first by a party conference, as must any programme for government agreed after an election.
The party has appointed Mr Adrian Langan to be its chief operations officer in an attempt to strengthen the party's organisation before the next election. Mr Langan, executive director of Bill O'Herlihy Communications, is expected to work out of the party leader's office in Leinster House.
Mr Langan said yesterday his role will be to manage the administration of Mr Rabbitte's office, and that he will have responsibility for planning for the next General Election.
Mr Rabbitte said yesterday that he thought a Fine Gael/Labour alliance was the best strategy for the party and to ensure the replacement of the current coalition parties. "The system is capable of providing an alternative Government," he said, and people have a right to know broadly the shape and substance of that alternative.
He thought that if you want to replace the present coalition, the prospect of a Fine Gael/Labour alternative is the most realistic.
He said the Labour Party had increased its seats by 25 per cent, in the last local government elections.
"For the first time in the history of the Labour Party we broke the 100 seat barrier, and in the greater Dublin region in the European election we narrowly missed beating Fianna Fáil into second place.
"We failed by 0.7 per cent to beat Fianna Fáil in the Dublin region. So it was a good performance by the party," said Mr Rabbitte.