Hail, the warrior race of the righteous

MEMBERS of political parties tend to be a bizarrely devoted lot, but by any standards this was just ridiculous.

Saturday morning in the convention centre at the Moran Silversprings Hotel in Cork city, and at the annual conference of the PDs, a 30-something male delegate in blue jeans and T-shirt unwittingly genuflects in the direction of the podium before taking his seat. Welcome to the Church of the Progressive Democrats.

And a most peculiar one it is, too. A small church, celebrating its 20th birthday this year, whose members are, economically speaking, right-wing fundamentalists: for the free market and deregulation, for big business and wealth creation, and low taxation.