THE lack of interest and disillusion of voters with the present party political system was clearly demonstrated by the low turnout and huge protest vote in the recent Dublin by election. The voters' message was particularly stark for my own party, Labour.

Despite success in a number of significant areas, economic growth and job creation, voting antipathy can be easily explained by the inability to confront issues such as the drug and crime problems.

The lesson from the by election is that the Dublin public is left with the feeling that politics cannot provide solutions to their concerns.

In my view, the high moral positions and liberal individualism which have dominated politics for the past decade have had their day and are clearly irrelevant to current voter concern, despite the media's obsession with them. Policies need to be formulated in issues of more direct relevance to the public.

There are lessons to be learnt from Britain, where Tony Blair has opened a debate on a new type of social democratic politics centred on issues of real concern to voters. In the process, he has transformed Labour and put it on course for victory in the next general election.

In my view Blair's primary success has been to break the dogmatic hold of liberal individualism on British politics, while successfully rethinking the communitarian alternative to it. In so doing he appears to have convinced a sufficient number of the British electorate, both on the right and left, that they can only be better off when everyone's better off.

Mr Blair and others have argued that British society and the economy operate on a short term horizon. By this he means that pursuit of short terms profits can only at the expense of the economy's long term capacity to sustain investment and wealth creation.

The result has been spectacular: he has been able to resist the constant Tory taunt that Labour is a "tax and spend" party. He has been able to convince the British people that that country's boom and bust cycle requires a new approach. This focuses on the need to improve British economic capacity, principally by improving education standards and support for businesses and exposing the Conservatives tax record since the last election.

In this country, the Labour Party's new political philosophy must have a similar moral dimension. It needs to be centred on the concept of communities where citizens have a stake in society and feel a sense of personal responsibility to make society work more effectively.

Liberty of the individual has to be complemented by an equal emphasis on the concept of fraternity. Assertions of individual rights have to be balanced by a sense of duty obligation and citizenship if society is to work effectively. The old and enduring concept of the common good, once again, has to influence individual behaviour and resolution of conflict.

Mr Blair's other success has been to destroy the perception that the left is hostile to the traditional family. Harmonious and conventional families are essential to the welfare of society and the genesis of social cohesion. It is important that this is said, accepted and understood by those who set standards and lead opinion on the left.

In the economic sphere a new centre left platform for Labour would recognise that real wealth is generated slowly and that wealthy societies do not have a quick buck mentality.

The main aim of this philosophy is to develop a set of relations between all those involved in wealth creation so that the economy as a whole acts as a cohesive unit. The success of this premise depends on the acknowledgment that a worker who is well looked after will be more productive.

Reform of social welfare is also needed in order to address the blight, of unemployment, especially long term unemployment. The concept of a basic income without means testing needs to be explored as a matter of the greatest urgency.

Incentives and initiatives must be provided to allow and encourage people to work their way out of welfare.

Responsibility must be fostered with the clear objective of enabling everyone to find a way out of poverty by giving them a hand up instead of a" hand out.

The alternative - a completely deregulated labour market - is unpalatble for two reasons. First, it will penalist those worse off second, it can only add to employment insecurity which affects people's ability to plan their lives.

Cohesive, rapidly growing economies and societies have developed the capacity to avoid discord about their objectives and have the ability to work in harmony to attain their, the lesson to be drawn from the success of the Far Eastern countries or Asian Tigers; not that low labour costs are a panacea.

In Ireland, successive national pay agreements have led to rapid and sustained growth. For future agreements, employers need to embrace workers' participation in decision making, and unions must overcome their tendency to put short term concerns before the national interest.

Another of Blair's successes has been his honesty about the difficulties facing an incoming Labour government. We, too, need to develop the courage to be frank with the public about the obligations that must be fulfilled if society is to work effectively.