PDs to decide future of party

The future of the Progressive Democrats party is expected to be decided at a crunch meeting in a hotel in Co Kildare.

Speculation has raged in recent weeks that Noel Grealish, one of the party’s two TDs, is planning to join Fianna Fáil but he has refused to comment on his intentions.

Senior PD figures - including Health Minister Mary Harney and leader, Senator Ciaran Cannon - are gathering in the Newbridge hotel.

A Progressive Democrats spokesman said party leader Mr Cannon will make a public statement after the meeting.

Some officials in the party, which was founded in 1985, want it to merge with Fianna Fáil.

The PDs were thrown into disarray after six of the party’s eight TDs lost their seats in last year’s general election.

Leader and outgoing Justice Minister Michael McDowell was rejected by voters in his Dublin South East constituency and immediately quit politics.