Mr Pat Rabbitte attempted to create a new political space for the Labour Party in a successful and up-beat address to their annual conference in Killarney at the weekend. It was his first conference as leader, having received a strong mandate from the party membership last October.
Coming on the back of a disappointing result in the general election a year ago, he managed to set out a new message and, strategically, put an appeal to the middle class and organisational ability as the key objectives in the run-up to local, European and presidential elections.
The conference was acutely conscious that the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats Coalition is likely to have almost a decade in power, implementing a policy programme of low taxes and reducing the role of the State. The length of time the Coalition's ideas have held sway has made it harder for Labour to argue against the orthodoxy of the low tax, low-regulation model.
Mr Rabbitte set out to champion the alternative against the background of recent public discontent at the downside of this approach, which has produced inferior public services. His political vision - a Fair Society, as he called it - involved world-class healthcare, housing, transport and public services, an end to poverty and fair taxation. What was different about Mr Rabbitte's message, however, was the attempt to broaden the base of the Labour Party beyond traditional concerns for social welfare, trade unionists and the social agenda. He took the Celtic Tiger years on board. The middle-class vote became his target and, in a major turnabout for Labour, he suggested that the public did not care whether the health service was public or private provided that it had quality.
When voters become focused on an election, Mr Rabbitte will be required to lay out credibly how he intends to pay for his plans. He urged members to become more involved in community groups and campaigns, thus contesting electoral space Sinn Féin has occupied. At the same time he made it clear that he is determined to go after the middle-class vote, saying that wider participation in education had broadened that social group, and Labour must seek their support. He pitched too for those who "think Labour but don't vote Labour" - largely Fianna Fáil voters that the party wants to attract.
He managed to side step the electoral strategy question. Is Labour to see Fine Gael as its preferred coalition partner, facilitating its recovery by suggesting it is the main party in an alternative government in waiting? Or is it to seek to win over Fine Gael voters in an attempt to become the second-largest party? And if so, is Labour prepared to put Fianna Fáil back into power if the numbers for an alternative do not add up after the next election?
These are questions Labour doesn't need to answer yet. But they sealed the party's fate in the last general election. Mr Rabbitte's popularity in the party was confirmed by his reception from delegates. He has begun the task of revitalising the Labour Party and defining its space.