Given that only the other day I was bemoaning the fact that we don’t pay enough attention to politics in the Republic of Ireland I thought I’d better highlight the fact that the Progressive Democrats, the Irish equivalent of the Liberal Democrats, have a new leader.

Senator Ciaran Cannon was elected as leader yesterday. He takes over from Mary Harney, who is herself a former leader and currently Health Minister in the Irish Government, who had been the acting leader since the 2007 General Election when the previous leader Michael McDowell lost his seat. We should wish Senator Cannon well in restoring the fortunes of the Progressive Democrats.

Rather, I think, proving the point I was making in my previous post, I learn these facts courtesy of a news story in the ‘Northern Ireland’ section of the BBC website.