Ireland's EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy was unavailable for comment last night, following a claim he played a key role in the formation of the Progressive Democrats 20 years ago.
Mr McCreevy was a central figure at planning meetings and even drafted a policy document for the embryonic party. However, he became frustrated at the delay in setting it up and withdrew after heated exchanges with Des O'Malley, who was to be its first leader when it was finally launched on December 21st, 1985.
The claim is made in Breaking the Mould: How the PDs Changed Irish Politics by the political editor of the Sunday Tribune, Stephen Collins. It will be launched in Dublin this week.
Meanwhile, other revelations in the book have led to tensions between Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and Dublin South TD Liz O'Donnell.
Collins quotes Ms O'Donnell as blaming Mr McDowell for the PD's ill-fated 1997 election manifesto, which hinted at sacking civil servants and penalising single mothers.
In an interview with Ursula Halligan in TV3's Political Party yesterday, Mr McDowell said: "She's just got it wrong. That's a lapse of memory on her part."
Mr McCreevy's involvement in the lead-up to the formation of the party was a source of much comment at the PDs' 20th anniversary dinner in Dublin on Saturday night.
The book claims that at a meeting on October 17th, 1985, Mr McCreevy said a clear policy position on economic issues was vital if the party was to succeed. Mr McCreevy said those involved should not put their names to individual documents for security reasons. His document became known as Ideas by Number 2 and contained an introduction, a preamble and a set of 10 principles.
According to the book, Mr McCreevy maintained that due to the absence of brave, visionary political leadership, the Irish people had lost their enterprise, initiative and hope in the future.
"We believe that barring some economic miracle, the viability of Ireland as an independent economic unit is threatened," Mr McCreevy wrote.
He claimed any difference between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael was superficial and that the populist approach of both parties resulted in the people having no real alternative at elections.
His 10 principles for the new party included an aspiration to unity by consent, enterprise-based economic policies, the restoration of initiative and the reduction of the level of State interference in the economic life of the country.
Collins's book says a meeting took place in the house of Michael O'Leary, a former Labour tánaiste and then Fine Gael TD, which has gone down in the annals of the PDs. He says the meeting became argumentative and emotional. Mr McCreevy made known his impatience with the delay in forming the party and indicated he would have no further involvement in it.
