Resignations just pointless posturing

Resigning from any organisation, political or otherwise, is a legitimate form of protest but whether it achieves anything other than 15 seconds of infamy — or admiration — for the protester is more than questionable.

Whether it is an appropriate way to represent those who exercise their franchise to elect a constituency representative to a democratic forum is even more than questionable. That self-centred style of protest may even be counter productive as a voice that opposes a position or a policy is removed from the debate, thereby ending any possibility of influencing outcomes.

Resigning from a party in power hardly seems an effective way to shape policy or events, especially a party in a coalition with an unassailable Dáil majority. Change is not driven from the sidelines and irrelevance beckons for those who choose parliamentary isolation even if it is principled.