Demise of the PDs

A lot has been said about this in the lead-up to what, over the last couple of months, could only be described as an inevitable event.

Despite the detractors, and despite the party's synonymity with Fianna Fail and big business over the past number of years, there is something sad about the dissolution of the PDs.

The party was formed out of ideology, and, almost uniquely over the past decade, actually stood for something for a time. Whether you agreed with that something is a different matter, but at least you knew what you were (or were not) voting for. Policies.

Irish politics has a sad lack of actual policies and ideologies. Perhaps this is because we are a national of 'realpolitikos'. Or perhaps it's because we don't really care.

Where the PDs fell down, in my opinion, was in recruiting celebrities to their cause, who had no real affiliation with the party's ideology or background.

Tom Parlon, for instance. From 'committed' farming representative... to 'committed' PD junior minister... to 'committed' head of the CIF. The only thing Tom Parlon believes in, clearly, is himself. He is a career lobbyist. Yesterday's commitments from FF to taking action in the housing market would indicate that he is a bloody good one, too.

Colm O'Gorman was another. Well-known for his founding of One in Four, Colm O'Gorman stood for the PDs in a General Election. Although he did not win, he was appointed a Senator. As a 'name', perhaps he was entitled to this. And, with his NGO background, perhaps he lent some perspective to the Seanad. For the time Colm O'Gorman was on the books of the PDs, so was gay marriage. A friend of mine even spoke at their conference on the issue. We have heard very little of that from them since.

The biggest 'name', and cod, of all, was probably Michael McDowell. While he'd been around longer and shown more commitment to the party, that wasn't much in evidence when he chose to sneak out the back door after his ignominious defeat last May. A real leader, with real passion for his party, would have stuck around and rolled up his sleeves. Harney did that. McDowell couldn't be bothered. He makes better money in the Four Courts.

Those who chose, last night, to announce the party's winding up, are those who worked at keeping it going. They were unsuccessful, but at least they tried.

Mary Harney is clearly exhausted - she has given much of her life to the party at the detriment of her own health, and is now trying to do the same for that very department. Fiona O'Malley stuck around even when it was apparent there was not much to be done, for love of the party and out of family pride. Noel Grealish, quite the man of mystery, never wanted to be more than a backbencher. It is his curse that he was left to the end - he never wanted to be a hero, and was never going to be one. And Ciaran Cannon, perhaps the saddest. Full of misguided optimism, Cannon really thought he would do it. A man of some conviction, he did not have the experience or the cynicism to do what was required and make the call at a dignified time. It is particularly unfortunate for him that his first role on the national stage will always be known as a failure.

PDs leadership 'race'

So the PD leadership 'race' is to conclude this week. Voting has ended, and the results will be announced on Thursday, due to the funeral of Paddy Hillery on Wednesday. It's one thing that those pesky FFers had to ruin the race's momentum with the small matter of the Taoiseach's resignation, but now they have to go and disrupt the results announcement by fixing it so that one of them dies! Is there no end to their cleverness...?

On a more serious note, am I the only lefty in Ireland who hopes the PDs will not go out of existence? Now I'm not the reddest lefty you'll ever meet (a nice pinkish-green would probably cover it), but I do happen to believe that diversity is incredibly important in our parliamentary representation. If everyone of every colour joins FF or FG (and I have good examples of people on both ends of the spectrum in either party), then how are we to know what, if anything, we're voting for?

While I would never describe the PDs (or any political party, for that matter) as honest, I do think it's important for a party to have concrete policy positions on things, even if I don't agree with them. At least I know I don't agree with them.

If there are no PDs, then the furthest-right party we have is Fine Gael. That means FG, which is also full of well-meaning lefties weaned on the milk of Garret FitzGerald's snore-inducing (but, again, well-meaning) Irish Times articles, becomes the repository for everyone with any right-wing tendencies. While it continues to jostle FF and Labour (and, probably, the Greens now) for position in the centre. That just doesn't work.

With a well-functioning tradition, recently at least, of coalition government, there should be enough room for smaller parties in the system. Look at the loss of Joe Higgins from the Dáil and the damage that has done to parliamentary debate.

Having said all of that, whichever of the two senators wins the 'race' (why, oh why, do they keep referring to it as a race?!), will have their work cut out for them. And it doesn't really look like Fiona O'Malley (while well-meaning and liked) has either the support or the sense to do it properly.

We await with interest...