The PDs are holding a conference in Mullinagr Saturday week which is expected to be the final one. The Connuaght Tribune is reporting that Cannon will quit regardless of the vote to dissolve. To me this is a great loss as the PDs are some of the nicest people in Irish Politics. They truly epitomised what Liberalism, both social and economic meant. I consider it a betrayel of the supporters and voters of this party, along with the members who actually voted for Cannon as leader.
Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them.
- [SIZE=2]Niccolò Machiavelli[/SIZE]
Idealistic, but they didn't follow through. Had they stood up to Bertie they would have stood for something and survived. There are social liberals in FG, FF, GP and the Labour party and there are economics progressives in FG and some in Labour (and still some lurking in the shadows in FF) though none in the GP.Originally Posted by Bobert
You can hardly blame Cannon for the sins of Harney and McDowell. I have met both and and though I like McDowell, they both had huge ego problems, ideas above their station. That was the problem with the PDs. Tom Parlon, Fiona O'Malley, Frank McNamara, Colm O'Gorman...hardly the kind of people who appeal to a modern and progressive country.
He should resign his Seanad seat and let a replacement be appointed.
He doesn't deserve to sit in the Seanad.
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May I ask why?, as far as I can see he has as much right, as O Malley, Harris, Boyle, De Burca etc.
Well for one he has been absent from an Seanad quite a bit "to build up the Progressive Democrats at the grassroot levels". He gave up before the summer, and still doesn't have an improved attendance record in an Seanad. Not to mention how unspoken he is in there on the occasion he is there.
As somebody who voted for Ciarán, I feel betrayed. But we all knew this was going to happen for quite a while.
Spineless the lot of them.
Economic Left/Right: 3.00
Social Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.82
Because he was a PD appointment, if he leaves and the party goes on, then he is morally bound to resign. It's not like he had any personal mandate (like Behan had) to justify holding onto his seat after leaving the party.
The Mahon Tribunal found Olivia Mitchell to have received an inappropriate payment from Frank Dunlop at the time of the 1992 Election. F.G. Gael has taken no action against her.
If the likes of Harney and McDowell are "some of the nicest people in Irish Politics" then I genuinely fear for the overall niceness of the Irish political system.
Can we do anything to replace these decent, nay, nice 'liberals'? Perhaps, nearly-as-nice, Ganley and Co?
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Former PDs should join Libertas, which doesn't have the baggage the PDs do.
FT:
Is libertas a proper party?
RIRA not in my name-Traitors to Ireland MMcGuinness; People are entitled to cultural & social equality MLMcDonald; We have a length to go understanding unionism GAdams
Seems to me that the PDs were a bit of a schizophrenic party. We all saw McDowell, Grealish etc. but it looks now as if they were never in it for the party, but that they used it for their own gain. I know it seems obvious now but I don't think it did at the time. The PD ideology was easier than say Labour's or SF's to manifulate and it didn't have the baggage of FF or FG and thus it was an oppertunity and it was taken and when the easy ride was over they jumped ship. Jump, Noel, jump...
It also seems that it was veru much top down and the disconnect between the grass roots PDs and the higher ups wasn't seen because nobody really wanted to look for them but they were also blinded by strong personalities.
I though, when Cannon appeared on the scene, that he was one of the Grass roots people, and perhaps he is/was but simply failed in his task to motivate the base. And it's not like it was an easy task, they did take a very public beating.
Can they emerge once more as the party that started back in 1985? I don't know, I'm not close enough to any of them to make that call. But, being somebody who is an unrepentant free-market liberal who never managed to find a political home (partly owing to the failure of the PDs to live up to their sales pitch) and assuming that I'm not alone outside the party and also noty alone among those who did join and looking at the current offering of political parties then I think they have to bloody well try, because at this stage they have nothing left to lose.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wepU0VyF3Iw"]YouTube - The Beautiful South ,,, Carry on Regardless[/ame]
Last edited by CookieMonster; 2nd November 2008 at 02:43 PM.
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