A Letter from Bobby Molloy to voters from the 1989 European election campaign. He polled well but failed to win a seat finishing 5th.
Molloy First elected to the Dail in 1965, was one of the first Fianna Fail Politicians to join the newly formed Progessive Democrats in 1986. He retired from politics prior to the 2002 General Election in a controversy over representations made in a rape case.
Click on Image to enlarge
New Labour Party recruit, Mae Sexton was initially elected to Longford County Council and UDC in 1991 as an Independent.
This is her missive from the 1992 General Election.
Over the years a number of Independent Councillors such as Mae Sexton and Kate Walsh joined the PDs.
Here though Mae ‘never felt that joining a political party would accomodate the free expression of my points of view’.
She was also opposed to Service charges and a number of other items that could have seemed incompatible with the PDs.
In 2010 she joined the Labour Party. Another councillor to do so was John Kelly in neighbouring Roscommon.
1994 Euro Elections Munster constituency. A split in the PDs led to Pat Cox standing as an Independent and Des O’Malley standing for the PDs . Cox despite being behind O’Malley on the first count took the last seat.
It was O’Malleys first election not being the party leader.
The 1989 General Election where Geraldine Kennedy loses her seat. The profile of her on the reverse is interesting in that she was the PD spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Northern Ireland. She was also their chief whip and has a number of other plaudits there too.
A sorry I Missed you card from a ‘stylish’, now Irish Times Editor, Geraldine Kennedy in 1987. Madams profession is listed as a Journalist, Larry Lohans as a Teacher and Helen Keogh as ‘Housewife’.
Kennedy served one Dail term and lost her seat in 1989.
This is a policy doc sent out by the PDs to their members in late 86 I think. Very relevant regarding Seanad Abolition
Tim O’Malley’s first Dail attempt in the 1998 Limerick East By-Election , caused by the death of Jim Kemmy. In a constituency where a year earlier they had held two seats, O’Malley polled 4,287 (10%) votes.
Actress Jeananne Crowley in her one forray into politics standing for the PDs in the 1991 local elections. She didn’t win a seat but got over a thousand first preference votes.
You’ll need to click on image to see it in a fuller size
A fresh faced former PD party leader Michael McDowell, in the 1987 General Election. Contains a profile of him, a message from Dessie O’Malley about him and of course a message from Michael McDowell himself. His pastimes included ‘reading and running’.
Garret Fitzgerald topped the poll on the day, with Ruairi Quinn, Gerard Brady and Michael McDowell all winning seats too. Amongst the vanquished were Mary McAleese, Eoin Ryan, Aengus O Snodaigh and Joe Doyle.
Frank Dobbs flyer from 1987 in Sligo Leitrim. The text is as corny as you’ll get.
What’s unusual is that four years later in the 1991 Local elections Frank Dobbs stood for Declan Brees Sligo-Leitrim Independent Socialist Organisation.
Some conversion….
From the 1999 Local Elections, Progressive Democrat candidate Jason O’Mahony. Jason O’Mahony polled 442 votes and failed to win a seat.
He is now known to many for his site jasonomahony.ie .
This is the front page of a PD paper type manifesto from 1987.(Apologies for the scan but its two scans put together like a jigsaw, so I’ll do the rest of the pages at a later date).You may need to click on the image to see the full details
Whats brilliant is the following bill put forward in 1986 which included the following….
-Ending pensions to sitting TDs
-Terminating the Senate
-Reducing the number of TDs from 166 to 120
-Reducing the number of junior ministers from 15 to 7 …etc
Does that ring a bell anyone?
In the 1987 General Election aside from the TDs, Senators and councillors with a Fianna Fail background the PDs also had a number of candidates whos fathers were ex Fianna Fail Ministers. Amongst them Anne Colley and Martin Gibbons were both elected.
One who stood but wasn’t elected was Frank Aiken in Louth. This is his 1989 manifesto.
This is a Survey that was attached to the Progressive Democrat 1992 General Election manifesto. Some interesting questions and also interesting that the proceeds derived from telephone calls were going to the Rape Crisis Centre.
A young Sean O Siochain stands for the PDs in their first local elections. He wasn’t elected. Normally the inside pages would be packed with stuff, where here a large part is taken up by the fact that his Grandfather was ex Director General of the GAA.
This Leaflet was produced after the initial set up and discussion on policies. Pictured on the Front are the PD TDs Mary Harney, Pearse Wyse, Bobby Molly , Michael Keating and Dessie O’Malley.
Lots of interesting stuff here… The Parties original aims including ‘Institutional Reforms’ and in the Social Welfare section “encouraging a more self reliant society”.
Click on images to make them larger
PD ‘Yes’ to Single European Act letter. The SEA Referendum took place in May 1987. Again we have the Neutrality, Abortion as potential issues. The constitutional challenge to the Bill refers to a case taken by Ray Crotty that meant in future the ratification of any European Treaty would require a Referendum.
The answers to the ‘What if we vote No?’ and ‘Re-negotiation’ are very plain too.
1987 was the PDs first Gerneral Election. There was a bit of a buzz about Dessie (another such as Bertie,Charlie and Garret that the electorate were on first name terms with). This shows what their initial policies were.
They included abolition of the Seanad and Ministerial Pensions……
Irish Election Literature 
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