Poor ould Mary Harney has finally decided to call it a day as party leader of the Progressive Democrats, with immediate effect.  Her resignation as party leader won’t, for the moment, effect her role as “Minister for ill Health” but she won’t be carrying on as Táiniste any more.  So when the (considerable) dust settles over the weekend, there will have to be a new leader either elected or selected by the members of the PDs.

The Minister for Justice, <takes a deep breath>, Michael “What planning regulations ?” McDowell has of course declared his interest in taking the party forward into the coming general election but besides himself there would appear at this early stage, to only be a few others willing to throw their hats into the ring against the mad Mullah. Tom “I used to be a farmer” Parlon and “Lucious” Liz O’Donnell are the only ones likely to challenge the big man for the job. It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out – very soon we might have this man as the deputy prime minister of the country …

An interesting quote from his website says “Don’t wash your hands of the democratic process and leave the field entirely to others if you aren’t willing to accept the outcome. Politics do matter.”

Off you go so Michael – there are tonnes of difficult questions waiting to be answered right here.

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