Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

Hugh Linehan and Pat Leahy close their series on the PDs. In 1997 the party runs a disastrous campaign, falling from 10 seats to four. But they still enter government with Fianna Fáil, with Mary Harney their sole cabinet minister.

Their real influence comes through Charlie McCreevy, effectively a PD inside Fianna Fáil, whose close friendship with Harney drives a tax-cutting agenda during the boom years.
Facing wipeout in 2002, Michael McDowell rescues them with a Ranelagh lamppost stunt and an ingenious slogan. But the next term in government is less successful.

McDowell takes the leadership in 2006 just as the Mahon Tribunal investigates Bertie Ahern. Why does he choose to stay in coalition rather than pull the plug?

The 2007 election reduces the PDs to two seats. Does the party have another fightback in them?

Finally Pat and Hugh deliver their verdict on the Progressive Democrats and ask where that centre-right energy now resides in the Irish political scene.
Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Denis Staunton's Global Briefing newsletter here: irishtimes.com/newsletters/global-briefing/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second of three episodes on the rise and fall of the Progessive Democrats, Hugh and Pat pick up the story on the eve of the 1987 general election with the PDs riding a wave of energy and Fianna Fail's Charles Haughey chasing the overall majority that always eluded him.

The party's first outing at the polls is a triumph: 12 per cent of the vote, 14 seats and third place ahead of Labour, much of it carved out of a collapsing Fine Gael. Haughey falls two seats short. Without O'Malley's new party, would he finally have had his majority?

Instead, a minority Fianna Fáil government, propped up by Fine Gael's "Tallaght Strategy", embarks on savage spending cuts and commits to tax cuts, policies the PDs demanded.

The PDs' successes bring a problem: when your opponents adopt your programme, what are you for? By 1989 the party is squeezed from both sides and in the next election it slumps to six seats. But again, no party wins a majority. This time the solution brings the PDs to power, changing Irish politics forever.
Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Denis Staunton's Global Briefing newsletter here: irishtimes.com/newsletters/global-briefing/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today Hugh and Pat embark on a deep dive into the history 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, or PDs, spent half of their 23-year existence in power despite never having more than a handful of TDs - and sometimes far fewer. Under successive leaders Des 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.

In the first of three episodes Pat traces the birth of the party to the misery of mid-80s Ireland, the enmity between Fianna Fail leader Charles Haughey and prickly, clever Des O'Malley, a natural leader and a Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick.

In 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 Ireland's sclerotic two-and-a-half party system.
Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Denis Staunton's Global Briefing newsletter here: irishtimes.com/newsletters/global-briefing/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

It was revealed this week that the planned Dublin Metrolink could cost up to €19 billion. The last Metrolink estimates from 2022 suggested €9.5 billion as the midpoint of a “credible” cost range of between €7.16 billion and €12.25 billion. The increasing cost echoes the National Children’s Hospital and its umpteen budget increases – a saga that damaged the public’s trust in the State’s ability to deliver large necessary projects in a timely and cost-effective manner.

The latest data from the Climate Change Advisory Council suggests the Government’s target of 400,000 heat-pump installations by 2030 is all but impossible at this stage. They are calling for a twentyfold increase in the pace of delivery, plus a surge in general home retrofits.

The German chancellor Friedrich Merz was welcomed to Dublin by Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Tuesday where he delivered a speech on the need for a more austere approach to the common EU budget. The decision to speak entirely in German was not helped by malfunctioning translation devices given out to the Taoiseach and those present.

The State has been urged to buy the lands of former Bessborough mother and baby home to create memorial park. This comes after planning permission was granted for more than 100 apartments on the Cork site.

And more than 300 former members of the Christian Brothers will be summonsed through an advertisement in a national newspaper. The move was prompted by the fact that the Christian Brothers is an unincorporated association, meaning there is no legal entity that can be directly sued by people taking it to court.

Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Denis Staunton's Global Briefing newsletter here: irishtimes.com/newsletters/global-briefing/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Narendra Modi’s 12 year rule of India has never looked so fragile.

Weeks of protests have engulfed the country following the leak of a medical entrance exam paper, which forced nearly two million students to resit the test. Protestors hailed victory from the resignation of the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday.

On today’s podcast, Hugh asks our contributor in New Delhi, Rahul Bedi, to explain the significance of the movement.

What had fanned the flames, he said, was the description of unemployed young people as “cockroaches” by one senior government minister.

Then, out of the ootheca hatched the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical movement that has channelled the frustrations of millions of young Indians who, in the words of Bedi, believe the country is increasingly dominated by corruption, privilege and vested interests.

They’re not alone.

Farmers have again been protesting at the state of the rural economy. And another campaign has emerged against the government’s ethanol-blended fuel policy, with some motorists arguing that petrol containing 20% ethanol reduces fuel efficiency and may damage engines.

Bedi explains what these large movements mean for the strength and future of the Narendra Modi administration.
Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Denis Staunton's Global Briefing newsletter here: irishtimes.com/newsletters/global-briefing/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.