Death of the Progressive Democrats

PD leaders, past and past.

The Progressive Democrats were born in 1985 as a result of an on-going feud in Ireland’s largest political party at the time, Fianna Fáil. They were declared officially dead in 2009 after nearly a quarter century as a political party.

The feud was between Dessie O’Malley and Charlie Haughey the leader of Fianna Fáil at the time. Dessie O’Malley founded the PD’s as an ideological party. They believed that Ireland should be more financially liberal and operate with more integrity than Fianna Fáil as led by Haughey. Even though they had some defectors from Fine Gael, the vast majority of the people involved in the new PD party were ex Fianna Failers.

Their main policy planks were privatisation and lower taxes, similar to the policy platform of Margaret Thatcher and the British Conservative party. Dessie O’Malley made many significant speeches over the years. Two of his most noteworthy speeches marked huge compromises. The first was in praise of Charlie Haughey after the PD’s decided to go into coalition with their arch enemies Fianna Fáil. His second was his exaltation of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein when he met him as Minister for Industry and Commerce. They discussed the scheme of export credits to enable beef baron Larry Goodman export large amounts of Irish beef to Iraq. This issue eventually led to Dublin Castle and the so-called beef tribunal which was perhaps a success for the  PD’s.

In the more recent past the PD’s under Mary Harney and Michael McDowell played a huge role in fuelling Ireland’s housing boom. Their philosophy of swapping funds from unpopular income and corporation tax for unsustainable tax revenues generated by the building boom has left a massive black hole in Ireland’s public finances. McDowell who was the last real leader of the PD’s fell on his own sword. His phrase, ‘be radical or redundant’ came back to haunt him as the housing boom ended and the PD’s brand of  politics finally lost its radical veneer.

The key lesson to be learned from the rise and fall of the PD’s is that there is a clear market for a liberal agenda in Irish politics. Their early success clearly demonstrated that, but as they went in a more neo-liberal direction, their popularity waned.

The main reason for the ultimate death of the PD’s is that in the public mind they became indistinguishable from Fianna Fáil, the party they were set up to oppose. Internal battles and sustained attacks in the media by the larger parties, eventually led to fragmentation and electoral defeat. Ironically, many of the politicians who were involved in the PD’s have now been re-elected wearing different hats.

  

Their lasting legacy is that they were the political architects of the major boom and bust cycle formerly known as the Celtic Tiger and latterly known as the Celtic Pussycat. Their introduction of light touch regulation has left Ireland badly exposed in the current political and economic climate. However, to blame the PD’s alone would be grossly unfair. Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were also guilty of embracing and facilitating many of their policies. In the current political analysis the  PD’s are largely being ignored. How they will be judged by history, only time will tell.