Author Archives: Jason O'Mahony

The Independent View: Advice for the Lib Dems – be strong, but also be selfish

By Jason O'Mahony | Sat 11th December 2010 - 2:20 pm

Watching the Liberal Democrat angst over tuition fees takes me back to 1989, when I was a young, considerably trimmer and clean shaven young Progressive Democrat activist. There had just been an Irish general election, and we had been devastated, dropping from 14 seats to just 6, which in Westminster terms would be like dropping from 50 odd seats to the early twenties, so you can imagine the howls of anguish. But that wasn’t even the worst bit: we were now faced with the nightmare scenario of entering coalition with Charles Haughey’s Fianna Fail, which in British terms was like …

Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged david cameron, nick clegg, progressive democrats and republic of ireland | 36 Comments

The Independent View: Three myths about PR – and one uncomfortable truth

By Jason O'Mahony | Tue 26th January 2010 - 4:30 pm

Jason O’Mahony was a former activist and candidate for the now defunct Irish Progressive Democrats. He now blogs on politics at www.jasonomahony.ie .

Let’s be honest. In the darkest chambers of British psephologist hell, beneath the pit of Parliament Channel subscribers, and even deeper than the cavern of sweaty handed ‘I’ve just found a 1970 Enoch Powell election poster. In crisp condition!’ enthusiasts, there is a special place reserved for Proportional Representation aficionados. Even amongst political anoraks and people who feel passionately about Peter Snow they are the underclass.

Of course, as an Irish political activist, who has lived his entire …