Is Mary Harney an Independent TD

Originally published: 21 Feb 07. In Ireland there is a political party called the Progressive Democrats and for the last 10 years they have been 'punching above their weight'.
This party which has just eight elected representatives and yet has managed to hold the position of deputy prime minister and been influential in all government policy since 1997.
In September 2006, the party leader Mary Harney (the country's deputy Prime Minister) stepped down and allowed the Justice Minister, Michael McDowell to become the party leader. In the intervening period it has become obvious that Mary Harney was the only 'professional' politician that the party possessed.
It would not surprise me if this party is decimated at the next election. McDowell is a loose canon who seems more intent on gaining publicity for himself than for actually contributing to government. His antics to-date, include,
1. He stalled the Irish housing market in the autumn of 2006 by issuing ungrounded utterances on the abolishment of punitive housing stamp duty
2. He piped up more nonsense last week castigating the cost of the ongoing mahon tribunal. What's laughable here is that he was the actual minister who rubber stamped the exorbitant ‘per diem' rates being charged by this tribunal a few years earlier.
3. And now it seems you can be taken to court for having slow instinctive reactions. I think he should concentrate on his day job as Justice Minister and sort this nonsense out before he goes showboating in other areas for publicity.
It seems he cannot open his mouth without considering the bigger picture implications of what he is about to say.
And where is Mary Harney in all this?? At a time when her party really needs statesman's advice and guidance, she is no where to be seen.
Perhaps she's stopped giving or the parties stopped listening, who knows but either way it looks like she doesn't really care about the future of the Progressive Democrats any more!