From The Kingdom of Cooley to The Kingdom of Kerry

national | miscellaneous | news report Sunday March 28, 2004 22:24 by Sean Crudden sean.crudden at iol dot ie 5 Anglesea Terrace, Greenore, Co Louth. 0879739945

PD National Conference

Just a simple post to indymedia of a little report I have just prepared for submission to The Dundalk Democrat. Sean.

PD Annual Conference

Sean Crudden and Archbishop Michael Desmond Hynes OMA PhD made the 524 miles round trip from Greenore to The Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney, to attend the Progressive Democrats national conference which was held there at the weekend.

Speaking on Monday 29 March 2004 Sean Crudden said, “From what I heard at the conference – and I did not hear everything – it appears that decentralisation and also the dissolution of the health boards will be going ahead with some urgency.

It looks, too, as if state assets like the site of the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum will be sold and the money ploughed into better services and facilities. I would like to comment, personally, that this appears to me to be false economy.”

Commenting on some of Micheal McDowell’s purple prose Mr Crudden said “The way he uses every opportunity including this one to bait Sinn Fein/IRA is becoming monotonous. Not only is it irritating but it is unhelpful to the peace process of which Sinn Fein is a very important sponsor.”

Mr Crudden was also unhappy about the way the national flag was exploited as a central motif at the conference. A large painting of the Tricolour unfurled dominated the stage at the conference. “I think the national flag, which is a symbol of unity, should be above party politics and I think that much of McDowell’s talk about ‘republicanism’ generated more heat than light and, in any case, most of it was meaningless.”

Liz O’Donnell – a more middle of the road politician – stressed in her speech tolerance and diversity and expressed solidarity with the poorest of the poor, Mr Crudden reported. “There was nothing new in this – we have heard this stock kind of speech from her more than once before,” Sean said.

Mary Harney’s speech was up to the standard of previous years but there was nothing novel in it and it was, as usual, more than slightly self-congratulatory Mr Crudden thought.

Manuel Melis Maynar, President of Metro de Madrid, delivered the Maurice Roche Memorial Lecture in the presence of The Spanish Ambassador, at the conference.