The Labour Party heads to Cork this weekend with a general election on its mind. The last time the party met was in Tralee, Co Kerry, in May 1999, and the emphasis was on building internal bridges with Democratic Left colleagues, with whom they had just coalesced.
That particular union is now a solid one and it is the prospect of marriage of a different kind that must be analysed and questioned.
Traditionally, party angst centred around whether or not to enter coalition; now it is all down to with whom?
There are a number of motions calling on the party to rule out coalition with Fianna Fβil - the memory of the trauma suffered in 1997 remains with a number of party members. Afterwards, the party lost 13 seats and subsequently witnessed the political collapse of Adi Roche in the presidential campaign. The resignation of Dick Spring followed.
The coalition debate will dominate several hours and the party has chosen this as the section of the conference to be televised on RT╔.
Party leader Ruair∅ Quinn will argue that he must keep his options open and should have the right to take whatever decisions and issue whatever statements he considers necessary to achieve the party's aims.
A proposal to enter coalition, he will argue, will have to be put to a special delegate conference in line with the party's constitution, as happened when Labour entered power with Fianna Fail in 1992.
If this motion from the party's executive committee is passed, others which ask explicitly that coalition with Fianna Fβil be ruled out regardless of the election outcome, then automatically fall.
The feeling among TDs and Senators is that they should not lock themselves into a particular option.
They feel they are better off contesting the general election on their own policies and not to showing their hand until they see what the result will throw up.
If two options are presented, they would prefer Fine Gael but don't wish absolutely to rule out Fianna Fβil.
"We need to be emphasising what we are going to do rather than who is likely to be our future partners," said one TD. "If we commit ourselves to something then we have no negotiating position."
Mr Quinn reflected that feeling in an interview he gave earlier this week in the Irish Examiner. "If the electorate deals a set of cards which makes the only viable government a Labour-Fianna Fβil one, I will have to seriously look at that."
Tomorrow night Mr Quinn will give a 50-minute speech, his second time to address a party conference since he took over from Dick Spring.
According to opinion polls, Mr Quinn, like other Opposition leaders, has failed to fire the public imagination.
His habit of overplaying anger in the Dβil chamber has also led to criticism. According to one TD, their leader is held in "considerable affection" in the party but does not get a fair deal from the media.
"People talk about how good Dick was, but Dick needed Charlie. Bertie just agrees with people all the time and offers to involve them. It is impossible to create an adversarial position with him in the Dβil."
Labour, according to party members, is ready for a general election. The posters are printed and the policies formulated. In fact, they may be too prepared, according to one party source, and will spend the next few months attempting to make themselves look fresh.
"This is the year we didn't want to have, really. We will be playing the same cards again and trying to make them appear new," said one source.
The party has held selection conventions in all bar three of their constituencies.
This is their third effort this year to hold a party conference. The first one clashed with the original Fianna Fβil ardfheis and the second was put off due to foot-and-mouth disease restrictions. The theme of the conference, where 800 delegates are expected, is "Real Public Service, Better Public Services" and motions are grouped together under headings such as "A Healthy Society", "A Caring Society", "An Equal Society" and "A Global Society".
The decision to hold it in Cork was a deliberate one. At present there is no sitting TD in the city and apart from picking up seats in the capital, the party sees Cork as a key area if they are to do well in the general election. Hopes are particularly high for former TD Ms Kathleen Lynch in Cork North Central.
According to opinion polls, the Labour vote has been going in the wrong direction this year, falling from 15 per cent in January's Irish Times/ MRBI poll, to 13 per cent in May, and to 12 per cent in June.
Worryingly for them, one poll this year showed the party behind Sinn FΘin in the capital, although that position was subsequently reversed.
Tonight, the issue of abortion will be discussed.
The Labour National Women's Council is urging that delegates reject a further divisive referendum on the issue of abortion and to support women's right to choose. They will also ask that women should be able to exercise this right in their own country.
The party's executive committee has tabled an amendment to this motion that would oppose any referendum which would "seek to overturn the 1992 referendum in which the Irish people democratically endorsed the Supreme Court judgement in the X case".
Tomorrow deputy leader Mr Brendan Howlin will host an interactive session on the internet on the subjects of crime, immigration, asylum seekers and refugees.
Ireland's role, if any, in international military actions either through EU rapid Reaction force or giving permission to the US to use our airports and air space, will be discussed on Sunday morning. Delegates will also be asked to accept a new party constitution which will offer every member a vote in the selection of all candidates for local, Dβil and European elections.
Alison O'Connor is a political reporter with The Irish Times