Progressive Democrats - History

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, the country's national debt was 104 percent of GDP, unemployment was 17.3 percent, and 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. Following the 1992 general election, John Dardis (Agricultural Panel) and Cathy Honan(Industrial and Commercial Panel) were elected to Seanad Éireann as part of an election pact with their politically polar opposites Democratic Left. 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. 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 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.

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, Senator Ciarán Cannon was elected leader, defeating fellow Senator Fiona O'Malley.

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. In January 2009, the party was still operating and in receipt of state funding, including a Party Leader's Allowance paid to Minister Mary Harney, 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. 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.

At the 2011 general election 11 former Progressive Democrats members stood as candidates for the Dáil in a country-wide spread of constituencies. Subsequently, three former PD members were elected. Mary Mitchell O'Connor (PD Councillor 2004–08) was elected in Dún Laoghaire for Fine Gael, Ciarán Cannon (PD Senator 2007–09 / Party leader 2008–09) was elected in Galway East for the same party, while Noel Grealish (PD TD 2002–09 / Caretaker leader 2009) was re-elected as an independent TD for Galway West. Several ex-PD members stood for election to Seanad Eireann in 2011. The only successful candidature was that of Cllr Cait Keane(FG), who had served on South Dublin County Council for the PDs between 1991-2008, and had stood for election in the Dublin South Central Constituency for the PDs in 1992, 1994, and 1997.