Labour Youth Officer Reports 2009

Labour Youth Conference 2009 Officer Reports

Chairperson’s Report Dear Friends and Comrades, As this is my final report, I want to begin by stating what a privilege it has been to serve on the National Youth Executive and to work and serve with so many dedicated and committed activists from the length and breadth of this country. I would in particular like to pay thanks to our Youth Officer Neil Ward and his predecessor Cian O’Callaghan, both of whom have been incredibly supportive to me in my role as Chair of Labour Youth. I would also like to thank individually each member of the NYE, Brian O’Connor for his sterling work as Vice-Chair and Campaigns, Colm Lawless for his incredible work as National Secretary, Rory Geraghty for his excellent work as Recruitment Officer, a year in which we DOUBLED our membership, Jane Horgan-Jones our Education and Policy officer for organizing the TJ Summer School and also her work on several campaigns, Karen O’Connell our Equality Officer for her excellent work and success as our Equality officer and on her election to the Party’s Executive Board, Hazel Nolan our international officer who did an excellent job of representing us on an international level,finally I would like to thank Keith O’Brien for his work as Comm’s officer but specifically for the Left Tribune which was in my opinion possibly one of the best that has ever been produced. I would also like to thank the entire team in Head Office, specifically Angie and Jackie, Cathy Flanagan and the General Secretary Ita Mc Auliffe who have always been of assistance to me and the entire NYE. I would also like at this stage to address some general items. At times this year has been challenging, but ultimately it has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me. Below I will attempt to outline in a chronological order some of the activities that we have been involved with this year. Finally I would like to wish everyone running for election the very best of luck, but specifically Rory Geraghty and James Humphries, who are in my opinion two immensely qualified candidates for Chairperson. Also I would like to especially thank the membership of Labour Youth who provide the lifeblood of our movement. In Solidarity, Gary Honer Chairperson Party Conference Kilkenny: Party Conference 2008 took place in the Hotel Kilkenny and was a massive success, not just for the Labour Party, but especially for us in Labour Youth. Our Gilmore For Taoiseach Posters and badges were a major success and went down very well with the membership of the party and the party leader himself. Thanks and Praise must go to Enda Duffy and Andrew Payne for their Sterling work in this regard. Our fringe meeting entitled “Expanding Labour-Expanding the Economy” was a major success, with standing room only at the event’s location. Thanks must go to Karen O’Connell for chairing the meeting and to Michael Taft for proposing what is probably one of the most important pieces of economic analysis of the current situation. UNITE the Union must also be thanked for providing refreshments after the meeting. Subway/Natalia Szymanka Solidarity Campaign: Labour Youth organized a picket of Subway to highlight the chains horrendous attitude to one of their employee’s in Belfast Natalia Szymanka who was sacked on

very suspect grounds, ultimately because she was pregnant. Thanks must be paid to Brian O’Connor and Cian O’Callaghan for their work on this campaign. Gaza: Over the Christmas period Israeli forces launched an over the top and grotesque attack on the people of Palestine, Killing hundreds of innocents. Labour Youth subsequently called for the Israeli Labor Party to be suspended from the Socialist International and held a protest outside the Dail in this regard. As the days progressed though, the attacks grew worse and in response to this, Labour Youth initiated the Boycott 729 campaign, calling for a boycott on all Israeli goods. We also held a very successful public meeting on the current crisis in Gaza, which included a wide array of speakers and audience participation. Young Candidates Dermot Looney and Maria Parodi spoke at the event, with Maria in the chair. In attendance also were Joe Costello TD and a representative from the IPSC. Padraig Lamb of the TCD branch also gave an overview of the situation in Gaza and the Labour Youth delegation which went there. We must insure that the continued attacks on the people of Gaza and Palestine are stopped and that a peaceful resolution is found to the current crisis. Youth Wings Debate: Our National Secretary Colm Lawless organized a very successful debate with the other Youth Wings in the Temple Bar Hotel in early February, it was a great success for us and was also an opportunity for us to have meaningful dialogue with other Youth Political groups. 21st Century Commission Report: As most of you are now aware the recommendations from the 21st Century commission have all been put in place. Labour Youth was opposed to this report and voted against it at conference. Meeting with the Party Leader: A delegation from the NYE met with the party leader Eamon Gilmore and his Chief of Staff Mark Garret. The main focus of this meeting where the implications of the implementation of the 21st century commission report, we emphasized at this meeting the importance of Youth Representation at a senior level within the party and how we would argue for a seat on the Executive Board. Party Conference Mullingar: The main focus of debate at party conference in Mullingar was the around the 21st Century Commission report, while we didn’t win the day on this we did have other success’s at this conference, specifically the election of Karen O’Connell to the Executive Board and the raising of significant sums of money for the Young Candidates Fund. Labour Youth held a very successful Public Meeting, with standing room only, on the economy with Vic Duggan and Paul Sweeney speaking at this event. Local Elections: The Local elections were a huge success for Labour Youth with several candidates being elected. Labour Youth members from all over the country campaigned with several comrades, some who we’re successful and others who we’re not. On a personal level I campaigned for Cllr’s Dermot Looney, Patrick Nulty and Cian

O’Callaghan who were all successfully elected. Young Candiates Fund: Related to the above was the establishment of the Young Candidates Fund. It was decided two years to introduce this Fund to assist candidates who we’re running for thr first time and who we’re also members of Labour Youth in a practical way. This fund proved to be immensely successful and I would encourage as many people as possible to sign up for a standing order to it. Youth Unemployment Protest: We organized a very successful protest to highlight the governments woefully inadequate attitude to the Job’s crisis, specifically the hardship’s faced by people under the age of 25. This event was well attended and garnered much support for us. Tom Johnson Summer School: This year’s summer school was held in the Menlo Park hotel in Galway, for many it has almost become the “Tom Johnson Summer School – Galway”. Overall this event was a massive success, we nearly 200 people attending. Particular thanks must go to Jane Horgan-Jones for her work in organizing this event. Education Protest: Labour Youth organized a very successful protest to highlight the shocking state of our education system. This protest was a huge success for Labour Youth. It was covered in most of the main newspapers, Radio Stations and even on TV3. I would like to thank the members who came from far and wide to attend this demo. Sack the Government Campaign: The Education protest and the Job’s protest both had the dual message of Sack the Government, I hope that this is a theme that will continue. Recruitment: This year’s recruitment campaign was possibly the most successful in the history of Labour Youth. I would like to thank all the members of the NYE for their hard work on this year’s campaign, but specifically Rory Geraghty and Neil Ward, but also Christina Mc Sorley and Colm Porter. Also it goes without saying that individual members in branches throughout the country deserve most praise for ensuring that our movement continues to flourish.

Tuairisc Rúnaí Náisiúnta Report of National Secretary A chairde, I would like to thank you for electing me to this position in Limerick last year. It has been a privilege to serve Labour Youth at an executive level and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to do just that. Over the course of the last year, Labour Youth has made strides in areas that we were previously weak in. Since last November I have contributed to several aspects of the national organisation Preparing a Budget and Fundraising I prepared a budget at the beginning of December, which was presented to the National Meeting. I carefully constructed it to ensure that Recruitment and Campaigns do not suffer at the expense of the economic crisis. We were able to raise a significant sum of money at both Labour Party Conferences, credit of which is due to all of those who helped out with the raffle. Youth Wing Debate In the initial stages of my term I organised the Youth Wing debate which took place in the Temple Bar Hotel in February. This event was attended by the Young Greens, SDLP Youth, Socialist Youth and of course Labour Youth. The debate took several months to organise in terms of arranging the youth wings to attend. I believe that it was a productive venture which allowed us to demonstrate our policies, which clearly outshone those of the other youth wings May Day Labour March, Belfast I attended the May Day Labour March in Belfast and met members of the trade union movement and some SDLP activists. There was a significant attendance and the event as a whole was a success. Tallaght Central Election Campaign I campaigned vigorously for Cllr Dermot Looney to win a seat in Tallaght Central. Our success was a huge achievement for young candidates across the country against huge odds. Many Labour Youth members pitched in to help Dermot win a seat, which is a classic example of the camaraderie that exists within our organisation .There was a visible youth presence on the ground, having over 20 canvassers on one evening. The like of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil had a diminished effect on our core vote thanks to the new energy that we pumped into the campaign. Dermot, a former Comms Officer for Labour Youth, is one of the most able councillors that we have at the present time and has been greatly appreciative of our help during his local election campaign. Thomas Cook Workers' Strike I participated in demonstrations against the imprisonment of Thomas Cook Workers over the summer. They staged a sit-in in their offices in Dublin to protest against the scandalous practices of Thomas Cook, who closed a profitable business in Ireland and gave its hard-working employees a miserly 2 weeks redundancy pay. The action escalated and we found ourselves outside the High Court on a summer afternoon to demand the release of the workers who were wrongly imprisoned for demanding a better redundancy package. Many Labour Youth members, including Gary Honer and Ciarán Rose were present during the demos.

Falun-Gong Protest Jane Horgan-Jones organised a demo with the Falun-Gong practitioners where we distributed leaflets calling for an abandonment of plans to twin Beijing with Dublin, on the grounds of human rights abuses. We delivered a letter to the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Emer Costello to highlight our opposition to the twinning. Health and Education I was involved in several demonstrations regarding the cuts to education and health, from March right through to September. I also engaged in the Labour Youth "Days of Action", which climaxed outside the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. We achieved significant media coverage and had a fantastic presence. Meeting with Carmel Hanna MLA In August, Brian O'Connor and I travelled to Belfast to meet with Carmel Hanna MLA. We had discussions about the direction of the SDLP. I was quite sceptical about the direction of the movement and required clarification on the make-up of the organisation in terms of Labour-leaning activists. Our investigation concluded that the SDLP has a minority of Labour-leaning activists, particularly in SDLP Youth. There are a significant number of conservatives within the movement. An article on our findings will be published in the next Left Tribune. SDLP Youth Conference 2009 I attended the SDLP Youth Conference in Belfast at the beginning of September as a fraternal delegate with Labour Youth. I was joined by Brian O'Connor – Vice-Chair, Hazel Nolan – International Officer and Colm Maguire. I gained an interesting perspective this time around. It appears that while the SDLP membership is dwindling, there is a component of left-wing activists in the group willing to work with Labour Youth. The NYE will be holding a meeting with their new executive in the near future. Conclusion I believe that the role of National Secretary is very versatile and allows for a large input into the affairs of Labour Youth. I hope that my time in that position has led to growth within the organisation and I look forward to meeting the new NYE. Go n-éirí an bothar leat to the next National Secretary and I wish him/her all the best in their endeavours. Colm Lawless Rúnaí Náisiúnta Ógra an Lucht Oibre

Vice Chair and Campaigns Officer Report Friends, We have seen in the past year has some in the Irish political landscape due in no small part to the inarticulate and bumbling leadership of the present Government. When faced with the most serious recession in living memory, Brian Cowen and his Cabinet have delayed in producing an answer to the very pressing holes in public finances and the economy as a whole. We have all suffered as a result. The Labour Party and Labour Youth have been leading the fight for a fair deal for all. We have shown there is a real alternative in Irish politics. Labour and our Leader Eammon Gilmore have proposed dynamic solutions that avoid the instinctive inequity of builder bail outs and bankers’ socialism. Labour Youth has campaigned in a diverse portfolio of problems: education funding/3rd level fees, the Palestinian/Gaza occupation, workers’ rights and elections. I hope that I have made a small contribution to our campaigning tradition. I wish to thank all of the National Youth Executive for being a such great bunch to work with throughout the year: Colm Lawless for always being level headed and reliable, Rory Geraghty for his inspirational recruitment efforts and support, Hazel Nolan for her advice and never being afraid to speak frankly, Karen O’Connell for her insight and perspective, Keith O’Brien for designing a very juicy Left Tribune as well as much of our other literature, Jane Horgan-Jones for putting together this year’s fantastic Tom Johnson summer school and finally our esteemed Chair ,Gary ‘the Silver Fox’ Honer, who’s dedication to the organisation throughout the year was beyond question. I learnt a lot from working with each of you and it will be hard to match the experiences we shared. A BIG thank you to: Cian, Neil, Cathy, Angie and Jackie in Head Office who do the work behind the scenes. Thanks also to Party Interns Colm and Christina who helped make this year such a success. I am particularly grateful to Cathal McCann and Dan O’Neill and anyone who has attended a Campaigns Working Group. This is where the synthesis and creativity for campaigning happens. We had the benefit of some very seasoned members this year who were able to advise and share wisdom. A big debt is owed to branch chairs and regional organisers who run things on the ground. To anyone else who has been active in the smallest way over the last year: Thanks! I am sure whoever takes over this role will have as much fun and enjoyment as I did. This year has been very challenging and at times difficult but it I would without hesitation repeat it. ¡No pasarán! Brian O’Connor Vice Chair and Campaigns Officer 2008-9 Labour Youth E: [email protected] M: 086-1579058

o Sacking of Natalia Szymancka/Subway Natalia Szymancka was dismissed from her job as a supervisor in the Lisburn Road, Belfast outlet for an alleged disciplinary breach after informing her manager that she was several months pregnant. In conjunction with the Belfast Trade Unions Council, we organised a national campaign to highlight her treatment during December and January. In Dublin, Galway and Cork, Labour Youth picketed outlets and distributed leaflets. This campaign was inconclusive due to an ongoing legal case in Belfast between the Subway licensee and the BTUC. I press released on this but did not receive any interest. o Education Cutbacks/3rd Level Fees This was an overarching theme throughout the year of real concern to students. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) organised several mass marches. Labour Youth had a presence on most of these with the banner being featured in newspaper photos. My attempt to establish a roundtable discussion between the executives of various anti- fee groups (Labour Youth, USI, Sinn Fein, etc) for concerted action did not proceed further than informal discussion. Free Education for All (FEE) featured prominently during this campaign with high profile direct actions most notably in blockading Eammon Ó Cuiv in NUIG (9/12/08) and also occupying the constituency offices of Eammon Ó Cuiv and Paul Gogarty and the office of the UCC President. During one of these occupations there was substantial damage caused by unknown parties which was investigated by the gardaí and is now being pursued. Such actions stirred internal debate within Labour Youth and most members have seem to have since distanced themselves from FEE. I organised a ‘’Government Scorecard’’ protest on 17-8-09 comparing Labour’s record with that of the current Government on education. This received a large deal of media interest thanks to Gary Honer’s efforts. We were fortunate that there are many similarly- minded organisations such as USI and SUs who have campaigned tirelessly against the Government on these issues. o Palestinian Occupation In response to the Israeli bombardment of Palestinian territory, there were a number of demonstrations organised in Dublin and elsewhere. I organised a Labour Youth presence at those in Dublin as a show of solidarity. Labour Youth’s own efforts focused on ‘’Boycott 729’’ with the leaflet and logo designed by Dan O’Neill. This was adopted by other interested organisations. On 13-1-09 Labour Youth organised a surprise protest outside the Merrion Square entrance to Leinster House to ambush the Israeli Ambassador attending the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee. The Israeli government had rejected any notions of a ceasefire (notable ahead of an election.) The most pressing concern of Labour Youth was the blatant defiance of international opinion and the effects on civilians trapped in the conflict zone. We were supported by Joe Costello TD who sat on the committee. I press released on the protest and also the bombings in general and attracted a modicum of media interest. o Lisbon In conjunction with Cathal McCann, a leaflet was produced favouring a Yes vote, based mainly on the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This was withdrawn due to concerns from the referendum committee over the wording of one section. A BBQ the Lies media stunt was also planned but was called off for reasons of practicality.

o Local elections The local elections were truly the highlight of this year. Dermot Looney’s campaign in particular saw unprecedented numbers of young people actively taking part in an election campaign. During May, I was full time involved in campaigning. I organised several canvasses for Dermot, Cian O’Callaghan and Patrick Nulty and also drove many canvassers around. Everyone who was active found the elections to be very rewarding whether knocking on doors, stuffing envelopes, pounding the pavement or standing on dodgy ladders at 3 in the morning! What made this election unique was the high visibility of young people in campaigning. Labour Youth also supported young first time candidates through the Young Candidates’ fund which distributed grants to 15 Party candidates under 30 years old. This enjoyed an almost 100% success rate as 14 out of 15 beneficiaries were elected. Grants ranged from €100 to €3000. Congratulations to all candidates who were elected! o Campaigns Working Groups I held meetings on 3-12-08, 6-3-09, 9-5-09, 25-5-09, 25-9-09 and 31-10-09. The meeting of 31-10-09 discussed: 1. The proposed Rent Deposit campaign calling on the government to establish an independent tenancy deposit holding service to safeguard tenants’ rights. The plan of action is to: 1. Publish a letter to John Gormley that all young tenants can sign and send to him en masse. 2. Design and distribute a leaflet directly through students’ unions (and other relevant organisations) on this. 3. Set up a facebook campaign. 2. The ongoing dispute at Boots Chemists over worker agreements and trade union recognition. The plan of action is to: 1. Liaise with John Douglas of Mandate and offer support. 2. Organise a picket. 3. Design and distribute a leaflet to the public at pickets. 3. The ICTU Day of Action 6-11-09 The plan of action is to: 1. Mobilise all available members through mass phone calling and texting for a large turnout with banners. In addition to the normal duties of my role: 1. I attended the ‘Young European Dream’ conference in February in Brussels, hosted by PES. 2. I have been in informal contacts with the SDLP and researching various aspects of their current status with Colm Lawless. 3. I acted as advocate for greater youth representation on the Executive Board in

the new Party Constitution by meeting with youth branches and Eammon Gilmore with Karen O’Connell and Gary Honer prior to Party Conference. 4. I helped fundraise for the Young Candidates’ Fund. 5. Canvassed for Alex White in the Dublin South By-Election.

Recruitment Officer Report Friends I would like to thank you all for making this year a thoroughly enjoyable year. I have loved serving on the National Youth Executive and organising the National Recruitment Campaign. I never thought our organisaiton could grow so much in one year but to double our membership was nothing short of a fantastic achievement. I hope that we can continue to build on these numbers in the future, growing our organisation. I would like to thank everyone who helped me along the way there are so many people I’m afraid I’ll leave someone out. Firstly I’d like to thank my colleagues on the National Youth Executive who’ve been fantastic to work with over the last year: Keith O’Brien for designing the leaflets and allowing me to submit my irate anti NAMA rant into the Left Tribune, Hazel Nolan for bringing a delegation of us to Brussels for a very odd Ecosy Congress, Jane Horgan – Jones for organising a wonderful Summer School, Colm Lawless for always being available to critique my work, Brian O’Connor for being an excellent Vice – Chair, Karen O’Connell for putting up with me on the Leaders Tour and Finally Gary Honer for being a pleasure to work with. I’d also like to thank the various branch chairs and Youth Organisers for their work and to thank Neil, Colm and Christina for the support they offered during the Recruitment Drive from Head Office. I’d especially like to thank Cathal McCann for being a complete legend, for helping with the Review Group’s report and designing the recruitment posters. Finally I’d like to thank those who got involved in the Working Group and for offering solid advice in helping run the recruitment campaign and everyone who helped us recruit members in the various colleges across the country. I hope whoever takes over enjoys the role as much as I did. It is hard work and at times the stress is too much to handle but it’s worth it in the end. In solidarity Rory Geraghty National Recruitment Campaign: I organised all of the Recruitment materials and wrote the text for the new leaflet in addition to organising branded bottle openers. I'd like to thank Cathal McCann and Keith O'Brien for designing the posters and leaflet respectfully. There has been a very positive response to the materials and I believe that the new refreshed look of the content and design of the material have been vital in helping us increase our membership levels to the level that we have. I visited UL during their Soc's Recruitment Evening and we finished there with 51 members. This is a completely new branch and was a fantastic result for us. I'd like to thank Abby Ryan for her commitment to our organisation and for setting up this new branch, along with all the others involved. In particular a thank you should be paid to the local organisation and their help in getting this branch up and running. Following that, I spent the week in my own university (UCD) were we broke our records for recruitment in the first day and finished with 180 members to the Labour Society. Personally I'd like to thank Aideen Carbury and everyone else involved for their dedication in running a fantastic campaign. This included a leaflet drop of the

UCD residences and I firmly believe that this was worthwhile and paid off in terms of recruitment I also visited Trinity during their Freshers' week Finally, I have contacted all college chair people and will be doing so again to make sure that the recruitment levels can be capitalised on with active membership. I have always said that recruitment has two stages, one getting people to sign up and two getting people involved and active. With the success of our campaign it is vital to increase our active membership too. Recruitment Review Group: The Recruitment Review group was established in July, at the then national meeting. As recruitment officer I was asked to chair this group. We have proposed a series of constitutional amendments to conference coming from our findings during the research we conducted over the last three months and I would ask all members to support the changes. These include some re organisation of the National Youth Executive and a proposal to raise the age limit to 27. We also brought forward a motion about regional restructuring but unfortunately this was struck down by standing orders. Following their advice I hope to bring this issue up at the first National Meeting of the year so we can establish regional points of contact on the ground for Labour Youth, in areas outside of Dublin. Recruitment Working Group: I held my first Recruitment Working Group on the 18th of June. The meeting was most productive and the outcome of the meeting saw the following decided: 1)We decided on a getting one large generic poster designed and printed with five photos on the top of prominent Labour figures, past and present. underneath which there will be text explaining what Labour has done in government. Cathal McCann has agreed to design some prototypes and bring them back to the next working group meeting. In addition to this we are going to print up some smaller issue based posters closer to the time to be used on campuses. 2)We agreed to write a Labour Youth Members Handbook: Sections to include: 1)Achievements of Labour Youth (Written by Aideen Carberry) 2)Politics of Labour Youth (Written by Mike Spring) 3)Labour Youth and International Politics (Written by Neal Warner) 4)History of Labour Youth (Written Conor Ryan) 5)Labour Youth's New Young Candidates (Written Rory Geraghty) 6)Labour Youth's Structure (Written Rory Geraghty) (The text of this booklet is still to be edited and designed for print and I hope to hand over these materials to the next Recruitment Officer. Due to funding we didn’t pursue this to be published but it is almost ready for production should the next executive wish to go ahead with it) I held a second Working Group Meeting on the 16th of July where the text for the new recruitment leaflet was finalised. The working group was also presented with a series of posters designed by Cathal McCann. All Recruitment material was presented to the national meeting in August for final approval before it was printed and distributed for the campaign in September. We changed some of the orginal ideas for the material but overall it was felt that the designs we did choose were the best for recruiting new members.

New Members’ Evening: I organised a New Members’ Evening for Saturday the 10th of October. The event was well attended with a lot of new members from across the country coming along. There were speeches on the night from Cllr Cian O’Callaghan, Party Leader Eamon Gilmore, Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr Emer Costello, Gary Honer and Hazel Nolan. I would strongly recommend that this event becomes an annual occurrence given its success. Pre Senior Party Conference Work: I attempted to contact all youth delegates to party conference whom I had not previously met. Although I actually only managed to speak with a small number of people on the list (a lot of people didn't answer their phones), I felt that it was important to attempt to engage people who are already involved with the party but not with Labour Youth. Recruitment wise I feel we need to encourage young people involved in their branches to get involved with LY and help us break the stereotype that we are just a clique. NEC Elections: After the previous National Meeting, held in Dublin on February 28th, It was decided that Labour Youth would be helping and endorsing both Karen O'Connell and Enda Duffy for the National Executive Committee elections. At the subsequent National Youth Executive meeting I was asked to act as a co-ordinator between both candidates and Labour Youth to help both get elected. This lead to me having several meetings with both candidates and working out an electoral strategy with them. In addition to this, I also contacted some of the LY branch chairs and activists to get them involved in the campaign. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Enda had to withdraw from the race, however, we were successful in getting Karen elected and I am delighted to see a member of Labour Youth be directly elected onto the highest committee of the party. Local Election Contributions: I organised several canvasses for young candidates including one for Cian O'Callaghan on the 23rd of May and one for Patrick Nulty in late April. Both were well attended and I am delighted to announce that both candidates were elected. In addition to this I attended a canvass, on behalf of Labour Youth, for former Chairperson Rebecca Moynihan. Finally I was also involved in getting Labour Youth members out to campaign for Dermot Looney, former Communications Officer of the organisation for his campaign in the Tallaght Central ward, I am also glad to say that he was elected too. Tom Johnson: I helped in organising the summer school, contacting people about attending and chairing the session on Saturday morning. I also acted as the NYE rep in the hostel making sure everyone was up on time for the events.

In addition to my duties in Recruitment: 1) Attended a meeting with Lord Mayor of Dublin about Labour Youths opposition to the twinning of Dublin with Bejiang 2) Attended Ecosy Congress in Brussels last April

3) 4) 5) 6) 7)

Helped organise the Education demo in August Contributed to the Left Tribune Helped fundraise for the Young Candidates Fund Featured on LmFm in a debate against YFG over Child Benefit Participated in the Party Leader’s Tour

Education and Policy Officer Report Dear Conference, We are coming to the end of what has been a very successful year for Labour Youth. Firstly, I would like to thank all the other members of the NYE, and also the two Youth Officers over the past year (Neil Ward and Cian O’Callaghan) for all their help and support over the year. On a personal level, I think that while the year was a great success, there was some blurring of roles which meant that different officers ended up spending time jumping between briefs and while this did ensure that certain things got off the ground that perhaps otherwise wouldn’t have, it meant there wasn’t enough time left for other things. I was also hampered by being much more busy with college and seemingly endless exams than I had anticipated being, so much credit is due to the other members of the NYE for picking up the slack where needed. In this report I have tried to give a run down of the various things I was involved in over the year, together with some thoughts for possible future improvements in each of the areas. I hope you all have a great conference and look forward to meeting you personally over the course of the weekend, particularly if you are one of the many new members we are delighted to welcome to their first Labour Youth Conference. Jane 1. Tom Johnson Summer School This took place in July and, as ever, was a huge logistical project with many speakers joining us from all over the country. This took up a huge amount of my time from Christmas to July. The weekend was a fantastic success and the level of participation and debate was very high. We had some very high profile international speakers and did a lot of very productive fundraising over the weekend as well. Next year, it may be an idea to move the Summer School out of Galway – while it has worked there for the past few years it is in danger of becoming a little stagnant and could benefit from being moved around as long as it’s somewhere with good transport connections and a youth hostel. The Tom Johnson Summer School is a great way to get to know other members of the party and I’d strongly encourage anyone who is attending their first conference to consider coming down next summer. 2. Campaigns •

I was heavily involved in planning and organising a number of campaigns during the year along with the rest of the NYE and Brian the Campaigns Officer. The first public protest of the year was the Youth Unemployment Protest. This involved a lot of ringing around and planning to ensure that we got a decent crowd. The turnout was great and the media coverage was even better and I think this protest really set the scene for a number of similarly successful events for the rest of the year.

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I organised a LY presence at the Falun Gong demonstration over the summer to highlight our opposition to the proposed twinning of Dublin with Beijing. A Labour Youth delegation went from the protest to the Mansion House where we were received by the Lord Mayor and delivered a letter of opposition to the

plan. Since this event we have heard the the proposal has been shelved as they are worried about negative publicity so it seems this has been a great success and will go towards ensuring that Dublin City Council only consider ethical twinnings from now on. •

I was involved in the planning of the Education protest which coincided with the release of the CAO offers, but unfortunately also coincided with my Entrance Exams for the Inns so I could not attend on the day.

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I have been involved in the planning of the Rent Deposit campaign with Brian.

3. Education/Policy initiatives •

I organised a Young Writer’s Competition to mark the anniversary of the First Democratic Programme which attracted a number of entrants from across the party. John Walsh of Standing Orders fame and Rory Geraghty kindly assisted in the judging and the prize is due to be awarded this weekend by Joan Burton TD. Many thanks to those who entered and to the party for providing the prize fund.

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I have put together a booklet of current motions before conference and a selection of past motions on some key areas for distribution at this year’s conference so people have an awareness of what sort of things LY has been working on in the past and can update it as the weekend progresses with the new policy that is passed, and to use this as a reference point for future conferences.

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Labour Youth were been invited to input into the Party’s European Youth Policy which was launched by our European candidates. Hazel Nolan, our International Officer, worked closely with Proinsias de Rossa in this regard and I contacted all branch chairs to seek their input.

4. Fundraising and Party Conference I had a very busy Party Conference which included proposing the LY motion (which was passed), chairing the fringe meeting on Taxation, and being responsible for organising the fundraising and raffle. The fringe meeting was a great success and the room was packed to capacity. Similarly, the fundraising also went off very well with over 1000 euro raised towards the Young Candidate’s Fund. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

International Officer Report 2008/2009 First of all I have to say thank you to the rest of my fellow NYE members and of course or former and current youth officers Cian O’Callaghan and Neil Ward. I want to also thank Labour Youth for allowing me this opportunity to represent you. Finally I would also like to thank the International Affairs Committee and Mark Khan for their support of my work. It has been a great experience, in which I have learned so much. When I came to office I based my platform on opening up the area of international work for Irish Labour Youth and on making the position more accountable. I believe that the restructuring programme I have put in place will achieve this and expand the role of International Officer. I have tried to build on the excellent work done my Holly, and to add more structure to the work of this position my aim has been to leave a strong framework for the next International Officer. I believe that LY has a great contribution to make in the field of international work- and I would urge the next NYE and International Officer to lobby for that to be reflected through an automatic seat for the International Officer of LY on the International Committee of the party with full voting rights. This has certainly been an interesting past 12 months. The unravelling of the current economic situation across a global level has reminded us of the importance of our interdependence and of international cooperation. The Labour Party to me is much more then a political party, it is a campaign for human rights that takes place in the political field. I have been proud to have been part of that campaign both locally and nationally, and this year to have been able to represent Irish Labour Youth on that campaign internationally. Is mise le meas, Hazel Nolan

28th-30th December: ECOSY Bureau meeting, Madrid. This was my first meeting with ECOSY. It was held in Madrid as this is where the PSE conference was being help, where the manifesto was being launched. First on the agenda was the presentation of reports by the Presidium. The one comment I would make on this is that I think that the Presidium of ECOSY should make more of an effort in their reports. It’s an area of improvement; they listed what they did, or rather where they had been. I feel they would do better to also include those developments they had reached for ECOSY at such meetings etc. Next was the Evaluation of past events. The main issue for debate in this was the ECOSY summer camp in France. It was generally acknowledged that the political programme for the event was well planned. However the practical organisation seems to have been somewhat below par, there were issues with lack of toilet facilities, showers, lack of shade for tents etc. The report on the summer camp was given orally, however I expressed as did other members that this should be given in written form- so as to avoid a future repeat involving similar problems. There were then Bureau meetings for Commissions. Each organisation is given a commission, no one is given a choice in which commission they have. Irish Labour Youth (so that would be me then) have been put in the commission for foreign affairs (foreign to Europe now mind) and aid. There isn’t much time dedicated to the commission and the agenda is quite full. I think it would be better for them to have a shorter agenda and more time to discuss the issues, which would mean that we could come up with proper resolutions and effective action plans as a result. Rather then the current norm of merely producing a bland statement on each issue. We also had Network meetings. Holly was former co-ordinator for the Global Progressive Youth Forum, and so I went along to that. 14th December: Meeting with Margot Wallstrom, Dublin. The International Affairs committee together with the PSE Activists in Dublin organised a lunch event with Margot Wallstrom- the Vice President of the European Commission. This gave us the opportunity to question her, and debate what to do next with the Lisbon Treaty. IUSY World Council The IUSY World Council was held in Zacatecas, Mexico, on 23-25 January 2009 and came to an end as one of the most successful IUSY events. Zacatecas was a wonderful venue, and the meeting ended with a high level of satisfaction. During those days IUSY tackled many of the main political issues that were pressing. This Council was a very political Council. It took place at the same time as the financial and economical crisis that is unfolding all around us. This was of course debated during the Council and political solutions were put forward. In Latin America the left is moving forward and this was of course also addressed and discussed during the Council. A lot of inspiration and positive examples can be found from our friends in Latin America.

After many political discussions and intensive days of work during the Council, it is important to say that the resulting political outcome will be a turning point for IUSY in the time to come. In addition to the usual debates on current situation and about regional committees, the IUSY family has been able to address and pass the two main tools for the future: the IUSY Reform paper and the Ideological document. It means that the organization has given itself a roadmap to work and to act on in future years. With the intention of providing a clear proposal for a renewed, regenerated and challenging movement that will hopefully be better able to give answers, propose alternatives for a more progressive forum in which to imagine a better and different world. Furthermore, several resolutions submitted by presidium, member organizations and regional committees were adopted, showing the broad and high interest of IUSY in different issues. On behalf of Irish Labour Youth, we worked with different international comrades in passing a resolution on the issue of Gaza, which I have also attached. Therefore, the political outcome states the greater commitment of ISUY as an organization to make itself work and potentially act as a leader for change in the world. Elections At the Council, Johan Hassel was elected Secretary General of IUSY. Federica Mariotti and Maayan Amodai were elected IUSY Vice Presidents. Due to the resignation of the former IUSY Secretary General, Yvonne O’Callaghan, the IUSY World Council was to elect a new Secretary General. Johan Hassel was proposed by our Swedish comrades of SSU, as well as by the Presidium unanimously, for the position of Secretary General. He took office as Acting Secretary General already after the Presidium Meeting in La Paz, Bolivia, 15-17 November 2008. Following the established procedure, the Nomination Committee proposed Johan Hassel as Secretary General, which was adopted by the Plenary by acclamation. As a result of this shift, one of the European Vice-Presidencies became vacant which meant that this position inside the Presidium needed to be taken by another European representative. Our Italian comrades of Sinistra Giovanile nominated Federica Mariotti as IUSY Vice-President. Federica Mariotti was elected IUSY Vice President at the Council by acclamation. An internal shift of Vice Presidents from the Mediterranean Committee, which was agreed upon at the last Congress, was also conducted. Uri Zaki from Meretz Youth in Israel left his position as IUSY Vice President. Maayan Amodai from Labour Youth in Israel was elected IUSY Vice President at the Council by acclamation. The next IUSY Congress is due for the new year to be held in Europe.

Global Progressive Forum As Irish Labour Youth (ILY) representative to the Bureau of ECOSY, I continued the role of Global Progressive Youth Forum coordinator. I have been the GPYF coordinator for ECOSY since the ECOSY Bureau meeting in Madrid, where I replaced the previous Irish Labour Youth Bureau member as the new Bureau member and also as the new GPYF coordinator. The position seems to have been quite inactive in recent times. This is something that I tried to have redressed. I have tried to begin again work on the GPYF. During IUSY World Council in Mexico in January I met with the GPYF coordinator Zita Schellekens for IUSY who updated me on the work and relationship so far with the GPYF and GPF. I then attended meetings in Brussels with different organisations involved in the GPF. I attended a steering meeting for the GPF conference. I also took the opportunity to meet with David Capuzutto, the PES GPF Adviser; with Maurice Claassens from Solidar and Phillippe Gousenbourger who is the ITUC Youth officer. My meeting with ITUC was especially productive and a good working relationship moving forward has been established where an agreement was made between the two organisations to work closer together and to share information in order to be mutually supportive in achieving the goals of each organisation. The Global Progressive Forum was held on the 2nd and 3rd of April in Brussels, I attended the event as the ECOSY GPYF coordinator. The event was very high profile with many world leaders and prominent heads of NGO’s present. However the event could have been more focused, and at this time it is necessary to have more direction coming out of such an event. This is something I have discussed in my meetings on behalf of the GPYF. Progressive is a meaningless word unless it is used in context to strategy to achieve goals. In light of this I think that building on the initial inroads established that more coordinated work must be done on regional level as well as European levels, and that ECOSY and ITUC together with other organisations must take the next step in achieving this through more negotiations and closer working relationships to really make a better world possible, we must do more then just talk.

ECOSY Congress As per my recommendations to the NYE, the delegation for ECOSY Congress was to be selected by nominations and elections at a National Meeting. We elected a delegation of six members to represent ILY at ECOSY Congress 2009. ECOSY Congress took place from the 16th to the 19th of April in Brussels, Belgium. In short, this conference was a complete disaster. The two main issues that arose over the course of this conference were regarding, firstly, from our point of view the issue of vote sharing between ourselves, SDLP Youth, Young Labour and Labour Students. The second issue was surrounding the elections of ECOSY Presidium, and the subsequent withdrawal of a large minority of member organisations from the conference in protest.

I will address first the issue of most relevance for us, being that of voting rights. ECOSY statutes state that mandates are divided by each jurisdiction (i.e. country), so that every jurisdiction receives an equal number of votes, mandates/votes are then divided/shared by the member organisations within that jurisdiction. In a Congress which happens on a bi-annual basis there are twelve mandates awarded to each jurisdiction, in a Bureau which happens approximately every six months each jurisdiction is awarded two mandates. There had been an agreement made about nineteen years ago that ILY, UKYL and UKLS would share votes with SDLPY. However SDLP had become inactive in ECOSY, and so ILY retained our full use of mandates. Now that SDLPY had become active again, ILY through both my self, and Holly Kilroy my predecessor, had made many attempts to get the control commission o ECOSY, which is responsible for handing out the votes, to facilitate a meeting between the organisations involved to sort out the votes. However several attempts made to the Control Commission and to the ECOSY Secretariate to work with the organisation involved to resolve the issue went unanswered. After paying the membership fee the Control Commission of ECOSY wrote to confirm our mandates, and awarded us ten mandates in the Congress and one mandate in the Bureau for the coming term (2 years). I wrote to the Control Commission of ECOSY requesting information as to why, considering we are the only member organisation in the Republic of Ireland, we were not receiving 12 mandates in the Congress and as to why our voting power in the Bureau was to be halved from two votes to one for the next two years. When the Control Commission failed to answer this email, I wrote again asking the same question and requesting communication on the issue, this letter was also ignored by the Control Commission. The Control Commission then went ahead and told SDLP Youth that they would be awarded votes from ILY. I then had to inform the SDLPY representative of the situation, over the course of a few hours I wrote a statement with the International Officer for SDLPY regarding the issue. In the end I decided to agree to give the SDLPY two votes in the Congress in order to resolve the issue in the short term. Both our organisations signed the cowritten declaration on the voting issue which was read out and passed by a vote on the Congress floor. The text of this agreement is attached at the end of this report. It should further be noted that Irish Labour Youth is the only organisation, and has always been the only organisation to ever agree to a situation such as that, where we gave away our votes to an organisation in another jurisdiction, and that the previous arrangement was an exceptional case within ECOSY. The second issue at the ECOSY Congress was regarding an internal split within ECOSY. This split happened as a result of the failure to agree consensus on a panel of candidates for the positions of vice-president on the Presidium, and for a candidate for President of the Control Commission. There was a proposal to resolve this by an emergency motion to expand the number of seats on the presidium for vice-residential candidates. This needed a 2/3rd majority in order to be passed. While there was a simple majority for this proposal, it failed to reach a 2/3rd majority needed to pass. The result of this was that a large minority of organisations, traditionally the ones in which we have been more closely aligned with within ECOSY, withdrew their candidates for the Presidium, Control Commission and Bureau- they also withdrew all their amendments and resolutions and delegations from the Congress. Our delegation for ILY decided to remain in the Congress, as there was still a majority present therefore the Congress was to continue. However the remainder of the Congress was a disaster in the aftermath, and following the elections of a new Presidium there were no more decisions made at the Congress. No position paper was adopted, no resolutions were adopted and no further applicant organisations

were accepted to join ECOSY.

Dublin/Beijing Twinning, DCC Despite assurances that the issue of the possibility of Dublin being twined with Beijing was not on the cards, one of our Dublin councillors brought it to my attention that this was still a possibility up for discussion. Together with our Education Officer Jane Horgan Jones and Councillor Aodhan O’Riordain we organized to a campaign to support the Falun Gong protest against abuses of their people in China. I wrote up a pledge for individuals and organization to sign up to, which hopefully will be signed by all our Dublin City Councillors, pledging to oppose any future proposals to twin the cities of Dublin and Beijing. Lisbon I organised and ran the meeting on August 15th. This went very well. Invited speakers included Christophe Schiltz who flew all the way from Luxemburg and who is on the Presidium of ECOSY, Declan Walsh who is a lecturer in EU law from the Law Department in UCC, both speakers spoke advocating a yes vote on the Lisbon Treaty. On the no side, the speakers included Roger Cole from PANA and Mark Khan, former International Secretary of ILY. Each speaker was given time to address the members at the meeting, following this there was an open questions and answers session. After this ILY voted to support the Lisbon Treaty. I also wrote an article that appeared in the Left Tribune, advocating and laying out reasons for people to vote yes to the referendum on October 2nd. SDLP Youth Conference I sent out information about the SDLP Youth Conference that was held on Saturday September 5th. Four members of ILY went up to Belfast for the event, Brian O’Connor, Colm Lawless, Colm Maguire and I. SDLP Youth Conference was held over one day. The turn out was not very high, with approx. 20 voting members present from SDLPY. There were also four members of ógra FF at the conference. As members from ILY we were granted speaking rights at the conference. All members of ILY spoke on various motions that were being debated and voted on by SDLPY. There was a motion sent in that “condemned” ILY for revoking voting rights from SDLPY in ECOSY. However time for the meeting ran out before this was debated. The newly elected Chair and International Officer of SDLPY apologised for the motion that had been submitted, the person who had submitted the motion has since resigned from the party. Following the conference the Chair person from last year also resigned from the party. It was generally felt by the four people from ILY in attendance that though the numbers of members active within SDLPY is decreasing, that the politics displayed by the members who are active is becoming more left-wing and progressive, from an ILY perspective. I have been trying since then to engage more with SDLP, and invited them to attend some of the campaign events which ILY and ILP were holding regarding Lisbon. I have also been trying to arrange for the new committee of SDLPY to meet the committee of ILY, however at this stage I feel it is probably more productive for them to meet the newly elected NYE following our own youth conference. PES Activists Forum

PES Activists forum took place in TCD, Dublin on the weekend of the 11th to the 13th of September. This event saw activists from all over Europe gather in Dublin for a weekend of workshops and committees based around campaigns and cooperation between members of PES. I worked with PES Activists in Dublin on organising individual members of ILY to help out and assist with collecting people at the airport and directing them into town. I would like to thank all those who helped out on the day. I would also like to thank Cathal McCann for his great assistance in organising the catering and venue for ECOSY to hold their workshop on the Friday night. I also organised for ILY to hold a stall/stand at the event on the Saturday. I would like to thank Colm Lawless, Rory Geraghty and Brian O’Connor and everyone who helped out with this. UK Labour Party Conference Between Sunday September 27th and Wednesday September 30th I attended UK Labour Party Conference which was held in Brighton. My intention in going over was to build communication and links between the more progressive elements starting to emerge both within Young Labour and within the Labour Party as a whole. I made contact with such groups as Young Labour and Labour Students, the Co-operative Party and Compass.

PROPOSAL FOR A RESOLUTION ABOUT THE CURRENT SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST TO THE IUSY WORLD COUNCIL 2009 On December 27 Israel began a military offensive against Gaza. We express our outrage on both the continued rocket attacks by Palestinians as well as the Israeli escalation, with comprehensive bombing and ground troops that have resulted in the killing of more than 1300 and the injury to more than 5000 Palestinians, including a large number of women and children. Israel and Palestine both have a responsibility to their people to stop the violence. However we consider the Israeli assault unacceptable and disproportionate, and in violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention. These latest actions dramatically increase the frustration on the Palestinian side, while not increasing the security of Israeli civilians. IUSY calls for a stop of the blockade of Gaza, a lasting and comprehensive cease-fire, unimpeded humanitarian access as well as a stop to Hamas rockets fired into Israel. IUSY also calls for the immediate adoption of the UN Security Council resolutions, which calls for intense diplomatic efforts for peace. IUSY is concerned about the participation of the Israeli Labour Party, led by the Israeli defenseminister Ehud Barak, in the military actions. The attacks against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, which the Labour Party are part of, are unacceptable. We urge the Israeli Labour Party to immediately start work for a peaceful solution that is not based on military means. We also call upon the Fateh Party to work for reconciliation on the Palestinian side. Violations of international humanitarian law may constitute war crime for which individual criminal responsibility may be invoked. IUSY supports the suggestion by the UN Human Rights Council that the recent attacks on Gaza should be subject of inquiry by a: ”urgent independent international factfinding mission to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by the occupying power against the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, due to the current aggression”1. IUSY calls on the European Union to stop their process of upgrading relations with Israel until this country complies with UN resolutions and international law. The recent actions have clearly shown that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can not be solved by military

means, but only through a real political process towards peace. Israel has the main responsibility, as an occupying power, to actively demonstrate its commitment to peace by engaging in efforts to work towards a two-state solution, which is the only realistic way towards a peaceful resolution. Together with our member organizations and the progressive and peaceful forces in the Middle East, we are committed to continue our work for a peaceful and secure future in the region, based upon the “TwoState Solution". 1: UN Human Rights Council resolution adopted 12.01.09 AUF, Norway DSU, Denmark SSF, Sweden SSU, Sweden ILY, Ireland SDY, Finland SONK, Finland Animo, Belgium Akbayan Youth, The Philippines JS in de Pvda, The Netherlands

Irish Labour Youth and SDLP Youth (Northern Ireland) Position Paper SDLP and ILY would like to draw the attention to the following statutes of ECOSY: With regard to votes in the congress, article 5.1.4 states: "there are 12 mandates per country. If several full member organisations are from the same country, they should share the mandates between them". With regard to votes in the bureau, article 5.2.6 says: "There are two mandates per country in the Bureau. If several Bureau members represent organisations from the same country, they should share mandates." For the attention of ECOSY Control Commission, ECOSY Presidium, ECOSY Bureau, ECOSY Congress and ECOSY member organisations. The following is a joint statement representing the views and the position of both SDLP Youth (Social Democratic and Labour Party) and ILY (Irish Labour Youth). We acknowledge that over recent years, there has been considerable discussion and debate within ECOSY about the granting of voting rights to SDLP Youth. Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of misunderstanding of the Irish political situation displayed by many of those involved in these discussions. Irish Labour Youth are currently entitled to 2 Bureau votes, as the only member organization for the Republic of Ireland. Young Labour and Labour Students are entitled to 1 Bureau vote each as active member organizations for the United Kingdom. As the SDLP Youth are an active organization within ECOSY, we believe it would be more than appropriate for them to have Bureau votes to ensure they can exercise their full democratic rights within the organization. Within the Socialist Group of the European Parliament and the Party of European

Socialists the SDLP party has always been part of the UK ‘delegation’. This has been the norm throughout the involvement of the SDLP in the European Parliament and in European political life and we believe this situation should be reflected at the youth level. This is the first written agreement between the two organisations (SDLPY and ILY) regarding the issue of voting rights for both organisations. SDLP are full members of ECOSY, and up to present have had to rely on the good will of ILY. SDLP is entitled, as is their basic right, to votes in Congress and also in the Bureau. SDLP should not be expected to rely on the goodwill of ILY in order to exercise their right as members of ECOSY to vote. It is the consensus of SDLP and ILY that the statutes of ECOSY are very clear on the issue of member organisations and their votes in the Bureau and the Congress. It is furthermore our consensus that the current voting situation is in direct conflict to this. SDLP and ILY are in full agreement that the current situation, regarding voting, is inappropriate, untenable and disrespectful to both organisations, as well as also being contrary to the statutes. SDLP and ILY expect that the Control Commission respect the voting rights of both member organisations by adhering to the statutes of ECOSY whereby ILY exercise their right to 12 votes in the Congress and 2 votes in the Bureau of ECOSY- and further for SDLP to exercise their right to a fair distribution of the votes allocated to the United Kingdom in both the Congress and Bureau of ECOSY. Both SDLP and ILY are in full agreement that the steps outlined are needed in order to adequately find a long term resolution on this sensitive political issue. Yours in Solidarity, Hazel Nolan Irish Labour Youth

Barry Magee SDLP Youth

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Equality Officer Report

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Comrades,

This has been an extremely successful year for Labour Youth. The organization is strong and the recent recruitment of new members is indicative of a very strong platform from which we can build and grow. First of all I would like to express my most genuine thanks and appreciation to all the members of the executive for what was a very successful year for Labour Youth. I would also like to thank Neil Ward and Cian O’Callaghan for their help and support throughout the year. I would like to especially mention a special word of thanks to our Chair, Gary Honer and congratulate him for what was a very successful year for Labour Youth. From a campaigning, recruitment and media profile perspective; LY has had a very prosperous year. Hopefully, next years executive will continue to build and grow in this way. The Sack the Government Campaign was extremely successful and the coverage, LY gained in the media is testament to how relevant campaigns can garner support from the general populace. The Local and European Elections were a major victory for Labour Youth in terms of the number of young candidates that got elected. The Young Candidates Fund played an integral role in many successful candidates election campaigns, and I believe this to be one of the most beneficial resources that Labour Youth should continue to develop and build upon. In terms of the role of Equality Officer, this year has also been very successful. The strength of the links that Labour Youth has developed with Labour Equality Labour LGBT are strong and again Labour Youth will hopefully, in the coming years continue to grow and develop these links. Going forward, I feel that the role of the Equality Officer is to fully participate in the meetings of Labour Equality and to assist and facilitate Labour Equality in all of it’s endeavors both within and outside the Party. As Equality Officer, I participated in the Labour Equality meetings. From many of these meetings, emerged the Labour Equality Strategic Plan for the period 2010 – 2012. With this in place, Labour Equality and the Labour Youth Equality Officer shall have a strategic plan and agenda to follow in the coming years. This plan serves as a framework to fill what was previously ill-defined role for the Equality Officer of Labour Youth. I would like to also mention a special word of thanks to the Labour Equality Council and Niamh Hayes in particular, Labour Equality Secretary, for all her hard work and for what turned out to be a very successful year for Labour Equality. Another outcome from this year was my successful election to the Executive Board. I would like to thank to everyone that helped me in my campaign, particularly, Jane Horgan-Jones and Rory Gheraty for all their help and support. Most importantly, I would like to thank Labour Youth for nominating me to run and say that I will continue to represent Labour Youth to the best of my capabilities in all my endeavors going forward on the Executive. Finally, It has been a pleasure serving on the executive this year and the very best of luck to all elected to the executive next year. Solidarity, Karen O’Connell

Equality Officer