Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

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

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 t...

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...

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 someti...

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