Logical step for Harney would be to rejoin FF

The PDs should stop being self-indulgent and disband without further delay, writes Noel Whelan

The PDs should stop being self-indulgent and disband without further delay, writes Noel Whelan

THE MANNER of the Progressive Democrats' leave-taking is undermining much of their legacy. The party has been in denial for more than a year. They should have set about an orderly wind-up last summer and taken the opportunity to do so with dignity.

It would have been fairer to their councillors who are now left struggling to reposition themselves with just months to go before next year's local elections.

The PDs have been forced to accept the inevitable, but are still being self-indulgent about the dissolution. Having broken the bad news to party colleagues last week, there is no reason why Ciarán Cannon and Mary Harney should further delay the process by waiting until October.

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Surely, even in its dilapidated state, the party can call a quick conference to approve the decision to disband instead of dragging it out?

Observing the subtle niceties of party rules when a party is approaching non-existence is pedantic. They should do themselves and the political system the favour of getting it over with quickly. The wind-up of the Progressive Democrats is not a purely private party affair and has potentially wider significance for the Government.

I can think of no precedent for one component of a government coalition simply dissolving itself. The fact that the Progressive Democrats will no longer exist as a party must have implications for Government structures and perhaps for membership of the Cabinet itself.

It is presumptuous of Harney's supporters to believe she should automatically continue in Cabinet. If, as is predicted, Noel Grealish joins Fianna Fáil and Harney becomes an Independent, her mandate for Cabinet membership will equate to that of Jackie Healy Rae, Michael Lowry or Finian McGrath.

The logical step would be for her to join Fianna Fáil within which, given her experience and ability, she would have a justifiable claim on retaining ministerial office.

The suggestion that she shouldn't or couldn't do so is peculiar. She has been on the same side as Fianna Fáil in every Dáil vote for the last 11 years - more often than some Fianna Fáil deputies. The notion that the circumstances of her departure from the party in the 1980s should determine Harney's decision now doesn't wash.

Rejoining Fianna Fáil is likely to prove good enough for Fiona O'Malley; if Dessie's daughter can do it, why can't Mary Harney.

It may be that out of respect for her abilities, affection or loyalty, Brian Cowen will leave Harney as Minister for Health for the time being. However, it would be wrong to assume it will happen automatically or that it would prove popular with his parliamentary party.

The necessary health reforms are in train and the most significant remaining policy decisions touch on funding and on a possible voluntary redundancy package. Irrespective of who is Minister for Health, those decisions will ultimately be for the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance.

Harney has been and continues to be a very able Minister for Health, but nobody is irreplaceable. Because she is not contesting the next Dáil election she will be replaced as Minister at some stage before then. There is no reason why this can't happen sooner rather than later.

A Fianna Fáil health minister would be better positioned to ensure backbench support for the changes which restructuring and reduced funding will cause for local health services. It is also presumptuous of Harney's supporters to assume that, if she so chooses, she should be Ireland's next European commissioner.

Again, she has the ability to do that job, but she is not the only one. If Cowen gave the commissioner job to Harney he would not only be disappointing a number of Fianna Fáil Ministers but also occasioning a byelection in Dublin Mid-West which Fine Gael would probably win.

This would be a precarious step for Cowen when his majority has already been reduced by the death of Séamus Brennan.

If Harney does survive in Cabinet as an Independent, it does not follow that she should continue to enjoy the infrastructure and staffing around Government which the PDs have enjoyed as a party. These resources might be better redeployed to the wider Government effort.

Presumably also some of the commitments in the programme for government are also there at their insistence and can now be deleted.

It is worth reminding the PDs that Cannon is a member of the Seanad as a nominee of the Taoiseach. I can think of no precedent for a taoiseach's nominee crossing the Seanad to the opposition benches. If Cannon were to join Fine Gael, then the decent thing for him would be to resign his seat, but I am not naive enough to expect this will happen.