The party mindset is rooted in the 1970s and its union links. It must adapt to a new Ireland and start grooming would-be TDs now, argues Michael McLoughlin
The debate on electoral strategy in the Labour Party has the feeling of rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. The constant mantra of "things are fine" is all too reminiscent of the "don't panic" catch cry of Dad's Army and that particular analogy could go further.
Labour has far more serious problems than electoral strategy to deal with and these come into particular focus in the short term, whereas electoral strategy can go on the back burner for a few years now.
In recent times Labour held seats in Tipperary North, Tipperary South, Kerry North, Clare, Louth, Dublin North Central, Dublin North, Carlow-Kilkenny, Laois-Offaly, Kerry South and second seats in Dublin South West, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin North East, Wicklow and Cork East.
That's a lot of seats for a moderately sized party. What the bulk of these seats have in common is the problem of succession, which is closely linked to the issue of generation.
Labour down the years has completely failed to plan for the long- term and have replacement high-profile candidates in place. The culture of the local fiefdom and dominant personality is alive and well years after Michael Gallagher and John Horgan wrote about it in the first books on the party. If this was an annoying historical trait it would be excusable, but the party is repeating the same mistakes today.
The fact that Labour usually does well to hold one seat with one candidate for a period of time in a constituency can lead to a poverty of ambition in the party and a stifling of talent and debate. Indeed, succession and healthy organisations are maintained by the other big parties by a solid level of competition among candidates to keep all of them on their toes.
Such an approach relies on the party and others embracing risk as Fine Gael did in the European elections in Leinster where they took two to three seats and ignored all the appeals of the incumbent. In the end, this risk is tempered as the worst outcome is often the one seat you started out with.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have blooded a whole new generation of TDs in this election such as Thomas Byrne, Lucinda Creighton, Dara Calleary, Leo Vradakar, Timmy Dooley, Terence Flanagan and many more.
Labour in Séan Sherlock had one young candidate elected in 2007 and this in circumstances that cannot always be reproduced.
The Labour TDs who have held on to their seats in the 2007 election are skilled at politics and excellent workers at local and national level. However, there are at least nine or 10 seats that Labour will struggle to hold over the next 10 years for reasons of succession. There is no evidence of succession planning in any of these constituencies. Indeed, the party tactic to date is simply to prevail upon TDs who wish to call it a day to stay on for another term.
Far from the future being bright, Labour may actually be struggling for its very survival unless it renews and refreshes its candidate base.
The party needs to show the same determination and ruthlessness in doing this as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil did in the recent past.
History tells us no party has the right to exist, and no party should deny it has a problem when it clearly does.
So what needs to happen? As mentioned earlier the organisation needs to admit and face up to the fact that it has a serious problem.
We asked the country if they wanted change and asked were people with us. The same message must be asked of the organisation from leadership to the grass roots. A greater role for the centre in facilitating succession or new candidates is needed in co-operation with local units.
Most of all, the party needs to project an image and policy platform that means something to a changing Ireland, an Ireland where the bulk of people are middle-class and aspire to a better lifestyle and want public services that work and are efficient.
While Labour's historical links with the trade unions give us a rich past, we cannot be seen as their messengers in every issue at all times. The party mindset needs to come out of the 1970s.
The local elections in 2009 will offer an opportunity for Labour to demonstrate whether it still has the fight and the determination to go forward and aim for the highest levels of success, or whether it wants to sit back and let history take its course.
Michael McLoughlin is international secretary of the Labour Party and a party member in Dublin West