The Progressive Democrats have been caught in the political equivalent of the credit crunch. Clean out of political capital and bankrupt of fresh ideas, the party is now redundant, just like a growing number of workers in the Irish economy. All that remains is the last rites.

Ciaran Cannon, a largely unknown councillor who was elevated to the Seanad in an attempt to prop up the party, was never likely to measure up to the standard of previous leaders such as Des O’Malley, Mary Harney and Michael McDowell. To his credit, at least Mr Cannon was prepared to step up to the challenge. After last year’s electoral wipe-out, however, it might have made more sense for the party’s two Dail representatives, Ms Harney and Noel Grealish, to return to the Fianna Fail mothership. At least it would have prevented the lingering death we are now witnessing.

Mr Grealish is now the catalyst in what looks like the endgame for the Progressive Democrats. He appears to have lost faith in the party and sees no future in being linked to its fortunes. His continued refusal to make clear whether or not he will remain a party TD has placed his leader in an impossible position. Mr Cannon has been reduced to pleading with Mr Grealish for clarity, and phoning the TD in the middle of the night to check the authenticity of newspaper reports predicting his imminent defection to Fianna Fail.

This is an unseemly embarrassment for a party that was launched with such fanfare and high hopes in 1985. The manner of its death should not disguise the fact that it has played a defining role in recent Irish politics.

While its membership will mourn the loss of influence the Progressive Democrats once had, the reality is that it has not been a player of significance for the past five years. Bertie Ahern’s decision to send Charlie McCreevy to Brussels after Fianna Fail’s local election drubbing in 2004 meant that the Progressive Democrats lost their most reliable ally in government. The relationship between Mr McCreevy and Ms Harney was vital. As the junior member of successive governments since 1997, Ms Harney’s influence, even as tanaiste, was limited. But with the like-minded Mr McCreevy holding down the finance portfolio, the Progressive Democrats were able to bask in the reflected glory of his tax-cutting measures that the junior party promoted.

When the party’s membership get round to asking themselves where it all went wrong, the answer will involve Mr McDowell. The former attorney-general, justice minister and tanaiste is a clever lawyer responsible for the last-minute appeal to voters in the 2002 election that secured the Progressive Democrats a surprise eight seats. But he then lost the plot.

The electoral achievement of 2002 was based on Mr McDowell’s promise that his party would act as a watchdog, ensuring that Fianna Fail did not get up to any funny business. In the event, Mr McDowell turned out to be a mudguard, shielding Mr Ahern in late 2006 and early 2007 as the former taoiseach’s tales about his extraordinary financial arrangements in the 1980s became less and less credible. Having just taken over as leader from Ms Harney, Mr McDowell seemed reluctant to pull the plug on Fianna Fail. So the electorate did a job on the Progressive Democrats instead.

Despite the success of the past 10 years in cutting taxes and introducing market reforms, there is a danger that Fianna Fail will turn its back on these policies as the economy falters. Increasing the tax burden to make up for shortfalls in the public finances is the default position for most politicians, but it is the wrong one. The link between low personal and business taxes and increased employment is well established. It must be maintained, and even improved upon in the years ahead.

The PDs may be dead, but any move to row back on the initiatives they championed really would mean the good they did was interred with their bones.

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