THE PROGRESSIVE Democrats would have to wind up sooner or later and it is better to do it now rather than wait for an undignified ending after next year's local elections, party leader Senator Ciarán Cannon has said in an interview to be published today.
Speaking to Hot Pressmagazine, he said: "If the party had continued we'd have only weakened the brand further.
"We had to protect our councillors. They needed to know the party would have a long and bright future but, unfortunately, I do not believe we would have had a successful election.
"The electorate needs to be confident in whomever they vote for - they need to know that they are voting for a party with a strong political voice, which is something we just couldn't offer," he said.
The four-strong parliamentary party last week recommended to the party's full membership that the organisation should cease to exist. A vote on this will be taken at a meeting in October.
"I have been looking at the statistics recently, and the party has constantly declined in numbers since its formation in 1983. Not once have we managed to up our numbers at any election.
"There was no pressure put on me to come to this decision. It was a collective decision of the parliamentary party. We all came to the conclusion that we did not want an undignified ending," he said.