In a three-part series of The Irish Times Inside Politics podcast, host Hugh Linehan and our political editor Pat Leahy embark on a historical analysis of a political party that, despite its small size, had an enormous and lasting impact on Ireland.
Born of the dire economic and political realities of 1980s Ireland, the Progressive Democrats (PDs) spent half of their 23-year existence in power despite never having more than a handful of TDs.
In the first episode, Leahy traces the birth of the party to the misery of mid-1980s Ireland, and the enmity between Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey and prickly, clever Des O’Malley, a natural leader and a Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick.
It began with a controversy emblematic of 1980s Ireland: O’Malley was expelled from Fianna Fáil over the issue of contraception, ridding Haughey of a problem – or so he thought. But what followed was the emergence of a new political force that would threaten the State’s sclerotic 2½ party system.
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Under the leadership of O’Malley, Mary Harney and Michael McDowell, the party used that power to fight for lower taxes and economic liberalisation, reshaping the Irish political landscape along the way.
But despite their outsized impact, the PDs could not survive.
