Madam, – As a former member of the Progressive Democrats’ national executive, I was surprised at Des O’Malley’s reported comments by Marie O’Halloran (“PDs could have won 12 seats – O’Malley”, June 29th) in relation to the former táinaiste, Michael McDowell.
It is not edifying for a former leader of a party to attack one of his successors but it is even less so when it is based on little or no facts.
For Mr O’Malley to describe the decision of Michael McDowell to resign from politics as the “death knell of the party” is to ignore the reality that the party was on life support for years before Mr McDowell became leader.
It is also to ignore, that despite Mr McDowell’s huge efforts, the party was rejected by the Irish electorate.
The final death knell of the party was sounded by the Irish people, not Mr McDowell.
I am also surprised at Mr. O’Malley’s comments that Mr McDowell regretted his decision to resign and its manner.
I would have rather imagined that one of the party founders would show more solidarity with not just one of his co-founders, but with the man who did more than any other to provide the drive and the intellectualism which brought so much to the Progressive Democrats and Irish public life.
Finally I am rather amazed at Mr O’Malley’s suggestion that if Mr McDowell had made the decision to pull out of government over the weekend of the June bank holiday in 2007, the Progressive Democrats would have won 12 seats.
This suggestion contradicts what other prominent Progressive Democrats thought of the decision not to pull out of government with Fianna Fáil.
Many others in the party, who were close to Des O’Malley, argued that Mr McDowell should not have considered pulling out of government because the PDs were better off to be attached to a tarnished Bertie Ahern and Fianna Fáil than returning to our former (and in my opinion correct) position of high standards in high places. – Yours, etc,