Comments on: Farewell to the PDs

By: mollymooly

mollymooly — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:43:34 +0000

In their early days the PDs were sold as “right wing on economic issues, left wing on social issues”. That’s a crowded market in Ireland these days.

By: John Smyth

John Smyth — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:04:09 +0000

The PDS decline had a lot to do with McDowell’s leadership of the party – his rhetorical excesses tended to walk him and the party into trouble every time, and tended to mask the fact that the PDs were quite liberal on many issues [rather than the running dog capitalist caricature that they were occasionally saddled with].

His achievements as Justice Minister are hardly impressive either – It’s a pity because he should have been one of our better Justice Ministers but turned out to be probably one of the worst instead.

By: DC

DC — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:31:31 +0000

“…why didn’t O’Malley simply defect to Fine Geal in the first place?”

Among other reasons, FG was in a coalition with Labour at the time (plus was led by the social democratic Garret Fitzgerald) – a government that was raising taxes (as well as cutting back on spending) in order to deal with the fiscal crisis. Fiscal rectitude was an anti-Haughey principle, tax cuts an anti-FG/Labour one.

It’s interesting now, because on the one hand the PDs spent the last 11 years in goverment with FF, plus most of them came from that parish anyway – but, OTOH, FG has been moving to the right since the last election (driven especially by younger types like Varadkar and Hayes, but also “Enda’s brain”, Richard Bruton) whereas the Greens are now FF’s primary partners, bringing them somewhat to the left.

But I presume local electoral calculations will be more important than ideological considerations in determining where PD refugees will find asylum.

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:13:29 +0000

Also – with the National Question hopefully parked for a generation, does this dispose the PDs towards re-absorbtion into FF?

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:09:31 +0000

Some questions.

Which party will the bulk of the erstwhile PDs now join? FF or FG?

Has FF reformed sufficiently in terms of corruption and social conservatism?

Has FG gone too socially conservative? (Anti stem-cell research!)

Final question: why didn’t O’Malley simply defect to Fine Geal in the first place?

By: P O'Neill

P O'Neill — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:28:57 +0000

Part of the problem was that they never got their story straight re Fianna Fail. The Haughey stuff that drove them out in the first place didn’t leave with Haughey. We know that from the tribunals. But they sat through revelation after revelation. Alternative history: McD walks out after the dig-out story first broke two years ago and says no coalition with FF until it is purged of the Galway Races tent mafia. Who’d be in power today? (and, yes, dealing with an economic shambles).

By: Righteous Bubba

Righteous Bubba — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:53:00 +0000

My admiration and envy go to those who know when to quit.

By: toby

toby — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:21:41 +0000

Stephen Collins, who wrote a book about the PDs, gives his assessment in the Irish Times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/0918/1221599466041.html

Basically, the PDs were victims of their own success;

– Most other parties adopted their policies (business-friendly, low tax) so their “brand” suffered. – Becoming almost-permanent Government partners to Fianna Fail blunted their radicalism. – Forcing Fianna Fail, the largest party in the stte, to compromise on its so-called “core-value” of permanently eschewing coalition meant that Fianna Fail is now inevitably in Government. Once it recognized coalition as legitimate, Fianna Fail now has a variety of smaller parties (Labour, the Greens) and Independents to choose from. The PDs became expendable, in other words.

Few tears will be shed for the PDs – they were cordially hated by most dyed-in-the-wool Fianna Failers. They took votes from the other large party, Fine Gael, who will pick up some residual support. I have a feeling that the people who will be kindest to the PDs will be the historians.

By: Ben Alpers

Ben Alpers — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:16:31 +0000

Irish politics is generally incomprehensible to foreigners…

How does that Zapatero guy fit in?

By: Jacob Christensen

Jacob Christensen — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:50:59 +0000

Irish politics is generally incomprehensible to foreigners, but policies aside wasn’t the PDs as much about being anti-Haughey as about being pro-anything?

With Haughey dead and gone, the party would seem to be rebels without a cause. Or?

By: astrongmaybe

astrongmaybe — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:15:24 +0000

Magnificent quote! The PDs fulfil their historic destiny (triumphantly!), and, like the fruit ripened fully on the branch, may now happily fall into the mulch below. Who says Irish pols don’t have a sense of history?

I could never stand the PD’s politics either, but there was something noble about some of the ideas and circumstances around their founding, and Dessie O’M. always seemed like a “decent” guy, a word often thrown around about Irish public figures, but not so often deserved.