McDowell's radical alternative

He once said his party must become "radical or redundant". However Michael McDowell must now ensure that in being politically radical he does not become politically redundant.

The discussion document prepared by him concerning his party's future is certainly radical, involving the introduction of an entirely new type of political organisation into Ireland. But it also appears to set a precondition that he become the central figure in the restructuring of the party.

He would become party president, responsible for transforming the party, preparing the next election manifesto and renewing and expanding party membership. He would take over some of the functions of the party leader, become the chief executive and take control of and direct all party officers and staff.

It is a shopping list that the party has balked at, the parliamentary party and national executive voting unanimously last week to turn it down. Without a rapprochement with his former party, he is in danger of becoming politically redundant after the next general election.

A request by Mr McDowell to be allowed to address the party's general council on the subject has been refused. The national executive is charged with running the day-today affairs of the party, and the party leadership has considerable influence over it.

However, the general council is the party's governing body, includes representatives from all Dail constituencies and tends to a more independent line from the party leadership at times. It has been highly critical of the party leadership in the past, sharing Mr McDowell's view that the leadership's strategy deserves most of the blame for the party's poor election result in 1997. Mr McDowell might have hoped for a more sympathetic hearing there had he got the opportunity to make his case.

The rejection of his plan by the executive and parliamentary party was, however, unanimous. Such demands as a precondition for his rejoining could not be entertained by any democratic party, said one of those who voted it down. "You can join a party and argue for your case, but you can't demand such change as a precondition for joining."

A significant number in the party still see McDowell as a potential Messiah, and hoped to see him return triumphantly to the party platform at the national conference in Cork in just over a fortnight. Once the intellectual driving force of the party, McDowell allowed his membership to lapse after he lost his seat in 1997, a loss he attributes to bungling by Ms Harney and her advisers during the campaign.

It was the second time he lost his seat, each time missing out on the prospect of entering government. He was forced once again to watch his erstwhile colleagues emerge from the ashes of a disastrous election result to assume ministerial office. He is said to attribute his appointment as Attorney General largely to his own merit rather than the sponsorship of Ms Harney.

Ms Harney and party figures around her have had fractious relations with Mr McDowell since 1997, but have nevertheless been keen to see him return. He is radical, full of new ideas, an outstanding media performer and the man who, more than any other, gave the PDs their distinctive image. Ms Harney is among those who have held talks with him in recent months.

But plans for that triumphant return are almost certain to be postponed, and seem quite likely to be abandoned. The leaking of his proposals and their portrayal as a megalomanic power-grab is likely to sour the atmosphere. Negotiations had effectively broken down in recent weeks: the chances of their resumption must now have dimmed. Recent meetings between Mr McDowell and senior PD figures were at times heated indeed.

If the courtship is over, it is hard to know who is the bigger loser. The PDs are in dire need of a major fillip such as would be provided by his rejoining. Without such a kickstart to a major rejuvenation programme, their future looks very shaky.

Mr McDowell for his part loves public life, and involvement in policy and politics. Three times the lure of politics has made him scale down a lucrative career at the Bar in favour of public life. Those who know say they cannot imagine his turning his back on it.

Yet the current standoff, soured by lingering bitterness over the unplanned rollercoaster nature of his political career, threatens to leave him with little choice and the PDs with a missed opportunity. There was no evidence available yesterday to back up reports that Mr McDowell might consider striking out on his own.

The concentration of the personality aspect of the matter will also distract from what is a politically thoughtful document produced by Mr McDowell.

THE paper that has become available to journalists is said to be an extract from a draft, rather than a final position. It attempts to address two realities that severely threaten long-term PD viability: Its failure to develop a national organisation, and the leakage of small party votes, once garnered by the party, to regional parties and independents.

In relation to the first problem, the PDs do not have a genuinely national organisation. Indeed party units that can fairly use the word "organisation" are spread very thinly around the State. Huge swathes of the State have hardly any party presence at all.

Accompanying the party's failure to develop a national membership is the leakage of voters seeking to protest or seeking alternatives. Shortly after their foundation in 1986, the PDs were attracting these voters in droves. Now they are going to other small parties and independents. The initial PD impetus as an alternative to the established parties has largely dissipated as it has become established as a party of government.

Mr McDowell's document suggests in effect that if voters and activists are embracing regional political groups, the PDs must do so as well. The national party - to be renamed the Radical Party - would build an alliance of sister parties around the State. It would include, say, a Dublin party, perhaps a Munster party led by Pat Cox and a Connacht-Ulster party led by Marion Harkin. Such groups would in turn be composed of alliances of more local groups - county-based parties contesting local elections that would combine for regional purposes.

Borrowing the EU term "variable geometry", Mr McDowell argues that this would allow the national party to become the anchor point for a much broader base. While such a structure could become a ragbag coalition of regional interests, he insists that local and regional politics demand the capacity to set up an alliance of sister parties to contest elections.

He also suggests that his proposal to set up what would be in effect a political franchising operation is not really new: the existing larger parties have to a significant extent "become a political franchise operated locally by independent organisations and figures".

His proposals are indeed radical, and are just the stuff to get the small but committed PD membership holding meetings to debate and discuss. For so long as there is no agreement on whether and how Mr McDowell will rejoin the party, however, they are unlikely to make the top of the party agenda.