The Progressive Democrats (in Irish An Páirtí Daonlathach) is a free market liberal party in the Republic of Ireland founded in 1985. It is a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR), which is a constituent part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
Policies
The PD's economic policies are based on market economics, including liberal economic policies such as free enterprise, competition, privatization (on a case by case basis) and the belief that economic and social growth go together. Like a number of other European liberal parties, they combine these economic policies with a liberal and secular social outlook.
In terms of social welfare provision they believe in selective rather than universal benefits, working under the ideal "help only the people who cannot help themselves".
The core policy that defines their economic outlook is low tax.
Low income tax because they believe it rewards and encourages work .
Low corporation tax because they believe it encourages business growth and allows for enterprise to be rewarded. The party believes that these policies were a critical part of the "Celtic Tiger" economy.
Critics say these policies caused the high level of inequality in Ireland (second highest in the developed world, using the HPI-2 index in the UN Human Development Report for 2004). The PDs respond by pointing to the dramatic fall in absolute poverty[1] and unemployment while they have been in power. They argue that when Ireland was a more equal society the people were equally poor.
Other controversial policies endorsed by the PDs include privatization of state-owned companies, and the use of Shannon Airport as a stopover for U.S. troops on their way to Iraq.
The party is often described as right wing by supporters and critics alike, but they have several policies which are closer to the left wing:
- They have been strong supporters of overseas development aid
- The PD leader, Mary Harney, introduced Ireland's first minimum wage in 2000 while she was Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
- They support the social partnership agreements on taxation, wages and conditions negotiated between unions, government and employers.
- Their election programmes have included the intention to significantly increase welfare spending in key areas, including children's allowance, unemployment benefit and old age pensions[2].
- They support free university education.
Currently PD ministers control both the Department of Health and the Department of Justice, and are persuing the following initatives:
- Expanding heatlhcare coverage
- Reforming the health service
- Reform of the private security industry (regulating it for the first time)
- Expanding police powers
- Creation of a Police Ombudsman
- Personal Injury Reform
Party leaders reject the idea that they are ruled by ideology alone. 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".
History
The party was founded in 1985 by Desmond O'Malley, a former senior minister in Fianna Fáil governments under Jack Lynch and Charles J. Haughey.
O'Malley was a strong opponent of Haughey and was involved in a number of leadership heaves against the controversial and popular Haughey. He 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 the 1987 general election the new party won 14 seats and 11.9% of the vote, becoming the third largest party in the Dáil.
In 1989 they formed a coalition government with Fianna Fáil, with Charles Haughey as Taoiseach. Haughey was replaced in February 1992 by Albert Reynolds.
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 and the first woman to lead any of the major Irish political parties. Harney currently serves as Tánaiste (deputy prime minister).
In total the Progressive Democrats have participated in coalition governments three times, all with Fianna Fáil (1989-1992; 1997-2002; 2002 to date). Mary Harney has said it makes "no difference" if they are in government with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael as long as they can get policy implemented, "[they] do not want to be in government for the sake of it".
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%.
It is believed that they attracted the votes of many Fine Gael voters who were afraid of a Fianna Fail majority and believed that Fine Gael's economic policy in the election was reckless.
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 widely reported speech [3] in 2000, the current party leader, Mary Harney, expressed the 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 social democratic models because she believed that the social democratic countries, while having more equality had bad economies and high unemployment.
She said that the economic growth did not come at the cost of society ".....And did we have to pay some very high price for pursuing this policy option ? Did we have to dismantle the welfare state ? Did we have to abandon the concept of social inclusion ? The answer is no: we didn't".
Progressive Democrats TDs
Future
The PDs face a number of challenges in future elections:
- Their support base is not as broad as the other parties. Their middle-class professional core vote tends to shift support between the PDs and Fine Gael. Given Fine Gael's strong performance in the European Parliament elections of 2004, they may pose a significant challenge to the PDs in the next general election.
- Unlike other parties they do not have many stable seats. At most four PD seats are guaranteed — Mary Harney, Liz O'Donnell and seats in Galway West and Limerick East which they have always held.
- Due to their lengthy partnership with Fianna Fáil (the current coalition has been in office since 1997) the electorate has come to associate them with Fianna Fáil, and they may suffer from any scandals or drop in the other party's support.
However their demise has been predicted many times before and it is expected that the 2007 Dáil Éireann election will put the matter to rest once and for all. It is likely that their performance in that election will depend on Mary Harney's performance as Minister for Health.
See also
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