Progressive Democrats

Progressive Democrats
An Páirtí Daonlathach
Founder & Leader Desmond O'Malley
(1985–93)
Leader Mary Harney
(1993–2006), (2007–08)
Leader Michael McDowell
(2006–07)
Leader Ciarán Cannon
(2008–09)
Leader Noel Grealish
(2009)
Founded 21 December 1985 (1985-12-21)
Dissolved 20 November 2009 (20 November 2009)
Headquarters 25 South Frederick Street, Dublin 2
Youth wing Young Progressive Democrats
Ideology Conservative liberalism, Economic liberalism
Political position Centre-right
International affiliation Liberal International
European affiliation European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
European Parliament Group Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Official colours Green, Dark blue
Website
www.progressivedemocrats.ie
Politics of the Republic of Ireland
Political parties
Elections

The Progressive Democrats (Irish: An Páirtí Daonlathach, lit.: The Democratic Party), commonly known as the PDs, was a pro-free market, conservative liberal[1] political party in the Republic of Ireland.

Launched on 21 December 1985 by Desmond O'Malley and other politicians who had split from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the Progressive Democrats took liberal positions on divorce, contraception, and other social issues. The party also supported economic liberalisation, advocating measures such as lower taxation, fiscal conservatism, privatisation, and welfare reform. It enjoyed an impressive début at the 1987 general election, winning 14 seats in Dáil Éireann and capturing almost 12 percent of the popular vote to temporarily surpass the Labour Party as Ireland's third largest political party.

Although the Progressive Democrats never again won more than 10 seats in the Dáil, they formed coalition governments with Fianna Fáil during the 26th Dáil (1989–92), the 28th Dáil (1997–2002), the 29th Dáil (2002–07) and the 30th Dail (2007–09). These successive years as the government's junior coalition partner gave the party an influence on Irish politics and economics disproportionate to its small size. In particular, the party has often been credited with shaping the low-tax, pro-business environment that contributed to Ireland's Celtic Tiger economic boom during the 1990s and 2000s.[2]

On 8 November 2008, the party began the process of disbanding, and was formally dissolved on 20 November 2009.[3][4] The two Progressive Democrat politicians elected to the 30th Dáil, Mary Harney and Noel Grealish, have continued to support the government as independent TDs, with Mary Harney continuing as Minister for Health and Children.

The party was a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR). Its youth wing was the Young Progressive Democrats.

Contents

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 had lost the Fianna Fáil whip in the Dáil in 1984 because of his support for the New Ireland Forum report and was finally expelled from Fianna Fáil early in 1985 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. In Ireland in 1985, when personal income above £7,300 per annum was taxed at 60 percent, when the country's national debt was 104 percent of GDP, when unemployment was 17.3 percent, and when the Catholic Church largely dictated the mainstream parties' socially conservative positions on moral issues, the Progressive Democrats' liberal reformist agenda was considered especially radical.

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 participated in coalition governments four times, on each occasion with Fianna Fáil (1989–1992; 1997–2002; 2002–2007; 2007–2009), and also with the Green Party from 2007–2009.

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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] Tom Parlon announced on 10 July 2007, that he was leaving public life and would not seek a nomination to Seanad Éireann, or to contest the leadership of the Progressive Democrats. Instead he will take up the position of Director General of the Irish Construction Industry Federation.[9]

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).[10] 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[11] and on 17 April, Sen. Ciarán Cannon was elected leader, defeating fellow Senator Fiona O'Malley.[12]

The party's two remaining TDs, Mary Harney and Noel Grealish, entered into coalition government with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party in the 30th Dáil. The party never recovered from this electoral collapse. On 8 November 2008, with all parliamentary members and founder Desmond O'Malley united in the opinion that the party was no longer politically viable, delegates to a special conference in Mullingar voted by 201 votes to 161 to bring the Progressive Democrats to an end.[13] In January 2009, the party was still operating and in receipt of state funding[14] , including a Party Leader's Allowance paid to Minister Mary Harney[15] , but had ceased to receive funding by the following June. The archives of the Progressive Democrats party were presented to UCD on 10 June 2009.[16] At least 20 former Progressive Democrats councillors won seats on county, city and town councils at the 2009 Local elections. Some were elected as Fine Gael candidates, some as Fianna Fáil and others as independents.[16]

Policies

The Progressive Democrats' economic policies were based on economic liberalism. They supported a free private enterprise and low tax policy base. They generally favoured 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 sector influence in healthcare. She 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 was 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.[17] 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%.[18][19]

They supported low corporation tax because they believe it encouraged business growth and for private enterprise to be rewarded. The party often claimed these policies were 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 Irish low-tax, pro-business economy 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).

The party is often described as right-wing. Party leaders rejected the idea that they are 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 is 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 was a controversial minister who has attempted to extend private influence in the health service and McDowell's campaign in the general election was particularly notable for the strong attacks he made on Irish left-wing parties.

Despite espousing liberal social policies and having in its ranks the openly gay Colm O'Gorman, the Progressive Democrats did not support same-sex marriage. Instead, they claimed to propose legislating for civil union, however attempts by the Labour Party to legislate for civil unions in the previous Dáil were forestalled by PD Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, 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 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",[20] 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.

General election results

Election Dáil Share of votes Seats Outcome of election
1987 25th 11.9% 14 Fianna Fáil government
1989 26th 5.5% 6 Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government
1992 27th 4.7% 10 Fianna Fáil–Labour Party[A]
1997 28th 4.7% 4 Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government
2002 29th 4.0% 8 Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government
2007 30th 2.7% 2 Fianna Fáil–Green Party–Progressive Democrats government

A In December 1994, Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Democratic Left entered into government without a general election being called.

Leadership

Leader

Deputy Leader

President

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.parties-and-elections.de/ireland.html
  2. ↑ "Shaping the politics that spawned the Celtic Tiger". Irish Independent. 8 September 2006. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/shaping-the-politics-that-spawned-the-celtic-tiger-77283.html. 
  3. ↑ "Formal winding-up of PDs delayed for legal reasons". The Irish Times. 28 February 2009. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0228/1224241989891.html. Retrieved 28 February 2009. 
  4. ↑ "Electoral Acts 1992 and 2001 – Register of Political Parties". Iris Oifigiúil. 20 November 2009. http://www.irisoifigiuil.ie/archive/2009/november/Ir201109.PDF. Retrieved 12 January 2010. 
  5. ↑ "Harney steps down as leader of PDs". RTÉ News. 7 September 2006. http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0907/harneym.html. Retrieved 16 February 2008. 
  6. ↑ "Michael McDowell confirmed as Progressive Democrats Party Leader". Progressive Democrats website. 11 September 2006. http://www.progressivedemocrats.ie/press_room/2033/. Retrieved 16 February 2008. 
  7. ↑ "McDowell quits amid chaotic election for PDs". RTÉ News. 25 May 2007. http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0525/election6.html. Retrieved 16 February 2008. 
  8. ↑ "Mary Harney asked to resume PD leadership". RTÉ News. 27 May 2007. http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0527/pds.html. Retrieved 27 May 2007. "The Chairman of the Progressive Democrats, Peter Wyer, has asked Mary Harney to assume the functions and responsibilities of party leader until the formation of the next Government." 
  9. ↑ "Parlon quits PDs for construction industry job". RTÉ News. 10 July 2007. http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0710/pds.html. Retrieved 16 February 2008. 
  10. ↑ Boyes, Nicola (28 September 2007). "PDs set to broaden leadership criteria". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0928/breaking44.html. Retrieved 16 February 2008. 
  11. ↑ "PDs change leadership rules". RTÉ News. 16 February 2008. http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0216/pds.html. Retrieved 16 February 2008. 
  12. ↑ "Senator Ciaran Cannon is the new leader of the Progressive Democrats". Progressive Democrats. 17 April 2008. http://www.progressivedemocrats.ie/press_room/2434/. Retrieved 17 April 2008. 
  13. ↑ "PDs vote to wind up political party". RTÉ News. 8 November 2008. http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1108/pd.html. Retrieved 8 November 2008. 
  14. ↑ Coleman, Shane (11 January 2009). "A wind-up? PDs continue to receive state funding". Sunday Tribune. http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2009/jan/11/a-wind-up-pds-continue-to-receive-state-funding/. Retrieved 19 January 2009. 
  15. ↑ "Parties get €13.7m in State funding". The Irish Times. 26 June 2009. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0623/breaking48.htm. Retrieved 26 June 2009. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "PDs to donate all archives of party's history to UCD". The Irish Times. 10 June 2009. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0610/1224248537815.html. Retrieved 10 June 2009. 
  17. ↑ 'The distributive impact of budgetary policy: A medium term view' Tim Callan, Mary Keeney, John Walsh, ESRI Dublin, 2002.
  18. ↑ "Budget 1997". Revenue Commissioners. Archived from the original on 17 May 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070517021054/http://www.revenue.ie/budget/budget1997/income.htm#Tax%20Rates,%20Bands%20&%20Tables. Retrieved 19 May 2007. 
  19. ↑ "Budget 2007". Revenue Commissioners. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928033342/http://www.revenue.ie/index.htm?/budget/budget2007/income_07.htm#4. Retrieved 19 May 2007. 
  20. ↑ Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 September 2001). "Remarks by Tánaiste, Mary Harney at a Meeting of the American Bar Association in the Law Society of Ireland, Blackhall Place, Dublin on Friday 21 July 2000". Press release. http://www.entemp.ie/press/2000/210700.htm. Retrieved 19 May 2007. "As Irish people our relationships with the United States and the European Union are complex. Geographically we are closer to Berlin than Boston. Spiritually we are probably a lot closer to Boston than Berlin." 

External links