‘I took a long holiday and decided to step down as leader of the PDs’

IT’S said that the best way of getting a story out is to tell a politician a secret.

But Mary Harney’s announcement yesterday afternoon that she was stepping down as leader of the party came as a thunderbolt out of the blue to her Progressive Democrat colleagues and to the wider world.

She made the decision a week into her fortnight’s holiday in Italy and the only two people who knew were her husband, Brian Geoghegan, and two close friends.

Arriving back into Ireland on Monday, she checked the diaries of all her colleagues to make sure that nobody was away. She knew that Michael McDowell, her putative rival within the PDs, was in Ireland. That was to ward off any repeat of the bitter divisions that split the party during the last leadership battle between herself and Pat Cox in 1993, when the Cox camp suspected that those close to Des O’Malley were tilting the contest in her favour.

As TDs and senators arrived for a hastily convened parliamentary party meeting at 3pm yesterday, none, except party chairman John Dardis, had any inkling.

The only other person who knew was Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, whom she briefed in confidence the day before.

Within half an hour, the party sent out a short — and cryptic — press release saying that Harney was about to make a major announcement. Soon, the rumour mill was in full flow.

And shortly after five o’clock, Ms Harney, flanked by all her colleagues, arrived to a packed press conference in the Merrion Hotel.

With the row between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown across the water, she knew she had to address suspicion that there may have been a push or pressure.

She said the leadership issue had arisen last June (when she had a blazing row with Mr McDowell over the date of her departure) and she had got unanimous support from the party then and the issue was dead.

She made the decision to stand down of her own volition without any pressure, she insisted.

“I took a long holiday,” she said. “I had time to reflect on the matter.

“I came to the conclusion that now was the right time for the PDs to elect a new leader. I was elected leader 13 years ago and I never envisaged being leader for so long.”

Adding that her predecessor, Des O’Malley, had been leader for eight years, she said it was important for the party to reinvigorate itself.

She said it was always her intention that she would step down as leader at the time of the next election and that it would have been “dishonest” of her to lead her party in the 2007 general election, knowing that she would go soon afterwards.

However, she seemed to accept tacitly that combining the leadership of the PDs with the Department of Health had been difficult.

“(It would have been easier) if I could be Minister for Health and not worry about leading the party,” she said.

However, she dismissed any suggestion that her standing down now would be seen as an admission of failure in health.

She argued that the reform programme had turned a corner and added that she would be willing to continue in that role under the new leader.

“It’s a matter for my successor and for the Taoiseach,” she said. “It would be arrogant for me to expect my successor to keep me as Minister for Health.”

But the prospects of her continuing in health look unlikely, especially if there is a leadership contest.

Ms Harney stressed the strength of the parliamentary party, in comments aimed at shoring up the continuity of government and the electoral prospects of the PDs.

In references to the 1993 contest — that eventually resulted in Pat Cox and Martin Cullen leaving the party — she said the new system where an electoral college comprising all elected representatives and the membership selects the leader (rather than the parliamentary party alone) would avoid such splits again.

“I will not be participating in the election. I will give my successor my total support and (I am sure) we will increase electoral strength at the next election.”

She specifically referred to Mr McDowell before saying: “We have people who want to lead. It’s a very good thing.”

But later on, she was at pains to point out that there were other good potential candidates, including Liz O’Donnell and Tom Parlon.

She may not be canvassing but given her bitter spat with Mr McDowell in June, she was careful that she was not sending out signals that it will be a procession for the Minister for Justice.