| An Páirtí Daonlathach Progressive Democrats |
|
|---|---|
| Former political party | |
| Founded | 21 December 1985 |
| Dissolved | November 2008 |
| Leader | Desmond O'Malley (1985–92) Mary Harney (1993–2006, 2008) Michael McDowell (2006–07) Ciarán Cannon (2008) |
| Headquarters | 25 South Frederick Street, Dublin 2 |
| Political Ideology | Liberalism Conservative liberalism Market liberalism Economic liberalism |
| International Affiliation | Liberal International |
| European Affiliation | European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party |
| European Parliament Group | n/a |
| Colours | Green, Dark Blue |
| Website | www.progressivedemocrats.ie |
| See also | Politics of Ireland Political parties Elections in Ireland |
The Progressive Democrats (Irish: An Páirtí Daonlathach, lit.: The Democratic Party), commonly known as the PDs, are a free-market liberal party in the Republic of Ireland. On 8 November 2008, the party began the process of disbanding.
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 restraint, privatisation, and welfare reform. It enjoyed an impressive début in 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 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), and the 29th Dáil (2002–07). 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.[1]
In the 2007 general election, the Progressive Democrats lost six of their eight seats in Dáil Éireann, including those of leader Michael McDowell, deputy leader Liz O'Donnell, and party president Tom Parlon. Although 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.[2]
The party is a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR). Its youth wing is the Young Progressive Democrats.
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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. 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 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]
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).[8] 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[9] and on 17 April, Sen. Ciarán Cannon was elected leader, defeating fellow Senator Fiona O'Malley.[10]
The Progressive Democrats' economic policies are based on right wing 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.[11] 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%.[12][13]
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).
The party is often described as right-wing. Party leaders reject 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 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 do not 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",[14] 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.
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