Everything about The Progressive Democrats totally explained
The
Progressive Democrats (
Irish An Páirtí Daonlathach, lit.:
The Democratic Party), commonly called
the PDs, are a
free market liberal party in the
Republic of Ireland. Founded in 1985, it adopts liberal positions on
economic issues. It served in government for long periods since its foundation, always with Fianna Fáil, the party from which many of its founding members originated. A member of the
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR), it's currently in
coalition government with
Fianna Fáil and the
Green Party. Its youth wing is the
Young Progressive Democrats
The party suffered a collapse in the
2007 general election, losing six of its eight seats in
Dáil Éireann, including those of
Tánaiste,
Minister for Justice and party leader
Michael McDowell, deputy leader
Liz O'Donnell and party president
Tom Parlon. The party has committed itself to rebuilding for 2009 Local and European elections.
History
The party was founded in 1985 by
Desmond O'Malley, a former senior minister in Fianna Fáil governments under
Jack Lynch and
Charles Haughey. O'Malley was a strong opponent of Haughey and was involved in a number of leadership heaves against Haughey, who was popular and controversial in equal measure. O'Malley was finally expelled from Fianna Fáil for "conduct unbecoming" a member when he refused to support Fianna Fáil's opposition to the introduction of contraception.
O'Malley joined with Fianna Fáil members
Mary Harney,
Bobby Molloy and
Pearse Wyse,
Fine Gael TD
Michael Keating and former Fine Gael activist
Michael McDowell, to set up the new party. The breakaways were dissatisfied with the policies of existing parties, which they viewed as being insufficiently liberal (both economically and on social issues such as divorce and contraception).The defection of Mr. Molloy to the PD's was a political sensation in Ireland.
In the 1987 general election the new party won 14 seats and 11.9% of the vote, becoming the third largest party in the
Dáil. The Progressive Democrats formed the second largest opposition party under difficult circumstances. The minority Fianna Fáil government introduced some of the economic reforms that the Progressive Democrats had recommended, Fianna Fáil was however largely supported by Fine Gael where the economy was concerned and so the Progressive Democrats had difficulty in being effective in opposition.
In the 1989 election, the party dropped to six seats, but formed a coalition government with Fianna Fáil, with Charles Haughey as
Taoiseach, which was the first time Fianna Fáil entered coalition. Haughey was replaced in February 1992 by
Albert Reynolds. Progressive Democrats Leader
Desmond O'Malley served as Minister for Industry and Commerce.
After the collapse of Reynolds' first administration later in 1992, O'Malley retired from the leadership of the party. Mary Harney became the new leader after a bitter election contest with
Pat Cox, who later left the party. Harney was the first woman to lead any of the major Irish political parties. Harney served as
Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) from May 1997 until September 2006 after a return to government with Fianna Fáil.
In the
2002 general election, the party defied expectations by doubling its Dáil seats to eight, although its share of the vote declined slightly to 4%. In total the Progressive Democrats have participated in coalition governments four times, on each occasion with Fianna Fáil (1989–1992; 1997–2002; 2002–2007; 2007–present), and currently also with the
Green Party.
On
7 September 2006 Mary Harney announced that she was stepping down as leader of the Progressive Democrats. She expressed a wish to stay on as Minister for Health. On
10 September, Michael McDowell was elected unopposed as Party Leader, having been nominated by
Tom Parlon and that nomination being seconded by
Liz O'Donnell. Liz O'Donnell became Deputy Leader and Tom Parlon became Party President.
The
2007 general election, was a disastrous one for the party. The Progressive Democrats lost six of its eight seats in the 166 seat
Dáil. Among those to lose their seats were party leader Michael McDowell, deputy leader Liz O'Donnell and party president Tom Parlon. McDowell resigned from public life after he lost his seat, and Mary Harney was asked by the party chairman to resume the role of party leader. Tom Parlon announced on
10 July 2007, that he was leaving public life and wouldn't seek a nomination to
Seanad Éireann, or to contest the leadership of the Progressive Democrats. Instead he'll take up the position of Director General of the Irish Construction Industry Federation.
A committee headed by former Senator
John Dardis recommended in September 2007 that the role of leader be taken on by a senator or councillor, although the party rules then required that the position must be held by a TD). A meeting of the party's General council on
16 February 2008 changed the rules to allow any senator, councillor or any party member with the support of 20 other members to stand for the party's leadership and on
17 April, Sen.
Ciarán Cannon was elected leader, defeating fellow Senator
Fiona O'Malley.
Policies
The Progressive Democrats' economic policies are based on
liberal economics. They support a free private enterprise and low tax policy base.
The Progressive Democrats generally favour privatisation. For example, they supported the privatisation of the previously state-owned airline
Aer Lingus and communications company
Telecom Éireann. They were also part of the break up of airports company
Aer Rianta and unsuccessfully lobbied for a private, competing second terminal in Dublin Airport. The acting PD leader and
Minister for Health has also been involved in the controversial extension of private influence in healthcare. She has pursued a policy of co-location of private hospitals on public hospital grounds and is seen as sympathetic to the privatisation of health insurance. However they opposed their coalition partner’s plans to privatise airports company
Aer Rianta, on the grounds that a private monopoly would be worse than a public monopoly .
The party has been a strong supporter of low taxation. As the
Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) stated in 2002: 'On balance, budgets over the past 10 to 20 years have been more favourable to high income groups than low income groups, but particularly so during periods of high growth. While the party was in government since 1997, the lower rate of
income tax fell from 26% to 20% and the upper rate from 48% to 41%.
They support low
corporation tax because they believe it encourages business growth and allows for enterprise to be rewarded. The party has often claimed these policies are in part responsible for the "
Celtic Tiger" economy. Dermot McAleese,
emeritus professor of economics at
Trinity College, Dublin, says that the emergence of the Progressive Democrats in 1985 may have had a more positive influence on the economy than some recognise. He argues the low-tax, pro-business economy we know today is based in large part on Progressive Democrat policies. "They proved that there was a constituency for this, and they gave the intellectual power to it." (The Irish Times, 31 December 2004). However it was Labour
Minister for Finance Ruairí Quinn, and not the PDs, who introduced the much applauded corporation tax rate of 12.5% in his 1994-97 tenure. His plan was, though, accelerated by the Fianna Fáil-PD coalition government that took power in
1997.
The party is often described as
right-wing. Party leaders reject the idea that they're ruled by ideology alone. Former party leader
Michael McDowell has said that he sees
liberalism as not being on the left-right spectrum as it's a mix of the ideals of both. Mary Harney, on becoming health minister said
"I don't get my politics from any ideology, I get it from my experience and common sense". . Yet Harney has been a controversial minister who has attempted to extend private influence in the health service and McDowell's campaign in the recent
general election was particularly notable for the strong attacks he made on left-wing parties.
Despite espousing liberal social policies and having in its ranks the openly
gay Colm O'Gorman, the Progressive Democrats don't at the present time support the right of
same-sex couples to marry. Instead, they claim to propose legislating for
civil union, however attempts by the
Labour Party to legislate for civil unions in the last
Dáil were forestalled by PD
Justice Minister,
Michael McDowell, due to his insistence that non-sex relationships be recognised too. The Progressive Democrats again voted down the same bill in the current
Dáil.
Both Progressive Democrats and other commentators have suggested that the party has had a greater influence on government policy since 1997 than might be expected from its size. This belief appears to have some basis – as of
September 2004 the party controlled two of the most important cabinet positions (
Justice and
Health) despite having less than one-tenth of the seats of its coalition partner Fianna Fáil.
In a 2000 speech to the
American Bar Association, the then party leader, Mary Harney, appeared to express a desire that Ireland become
"closer to Boston than Berlin", adopting US free market models for economic development, health, education, and other services rather than
European Continental models because she believed that the continental countries (such as
Germany and
France), while having more equality had bad economies and high unemployment. She said that the economic growth didn't come at the cost of society.
Leadership
Leader
Deputy Leader
Michael Keating (1986–1989)
Pearse Wyse (1989–1992)
Pat Cox (1992–1994)
Liz O'Donnell (2006–2007)
Noel Grealish (2007–present)
President
Michael McDowell (2002–2006)
Tom Parlon (2006–2007)
Parliamentary Party
TDs
Mary Harney
Noel Grealish
Senators
Ciaran Cannon
Fiona O'MalleyFurther Information
Get more info on 'Progressive Democrats'.
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