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 health care. 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". 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 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", 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.
However in the midst of the ongoing Irish financial crisis, many have begun to question the legacy of the Progressive Democrats. In a review of the Department of Finance Robert Wright, a Canadian economist, singled out the policies of the PD's and Fianna Fáil's 2002 election manifestos as contributing significantly to the 2008 property market crash.
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