PDs Future in Doubt

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PDs Future in Doubt

November 7, 2007

By Paddy Clancy

THE Progressive Democrats (PDs), the smallest party in government, are battling against extinction.

The party’s representation in the Dail (Parliament) could be halved to just a single member –- Health Minister Mary Harney –- if Fianna Fail, the Republic’s largest political party, succeeds in its efforts to woo Noel Grealish. He is the PD’s only backbencher.

He has admitted holding talks with his former colleagues in Fianna Fail about rejoining them.

Such a move, following so closely on the general election disaster when the party lost six of its eight seats, would put the future of the PDs in jeopardy.

Grealish himself raised serious question marks in an interview with the Irish Independent about whether the party has a future.

“We are only just back in the Dail and we have to decide about our own future, if our own party has a future. We don’t know if we have a future,” he said.

“We have got to be realistic. It has been a terrible election for us. We lost a lot of good people and potential leaders.”

In another interview with a local television channel in Galway, he was particularly critical of the PDs former leader Michael McDowell.

PD sources said Grealish’s comments were not altogether different from previous remarks he made about the future of the party, but this was the first time he had mentioned direct talks with Fianna Fail.

The PDs are still looking for a leader to succeed McDowell. Harney, a former leader, is acting leader but has made it clear she does not want to be considered.

Senator Fiona O’Malley, daughter of the party’s co-founder Des O’Malley, was a favorite for the role but appears to have backed away from the task recently. She said it would be difficult to combine the jobs of reorganizing the party and getting herself re-elected to the Dail.

The PDs were founded in 1985 by former Fianna Fail members disenchanted with Charles Haughey’s leadership. Disgruntled Fine Gael members were also among early recruits to the PDs.

Their greatest success was in winning 14 Dail seats -– 12% of the vote -– to become the third-largest party in the Dail in 1987.

But it was all downhill after that, except for the 2002 general election when they doubled their Dail representation to eight.

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