FOR a party that is odds on favourite to enter government with Fianna Fail at some stage in 1997, there was a strange lack of political excitement and anticipation at the Progressive Democrats annual conference in Co Clare.
Most delegates were middle aged. And while they responded with satisfaction, approval and horror to the condemnations of Ministerial cock ups, of administrative failures and to the worsening crime situation, the debates lacked the white hot fire of earlier years. The "liberal agenda", consisting of divorce, contraception, homosexuality and abortion information, had been addressed. Sustained economic growth, with rising living standards, may have mellowed the delegates.
It took Mary Harney to shake them out of their lethargy. She belted out a message of tax cuts for all workers and employers; more prisons for criminals; a drugs crackdown; workfare for the unemployed; privatisation for commercial state companies; cuts in State spending and the back of her hand to republicans and to "not an inch" unionists.
It was hot stuff - a rousing speech designed for the television viewers and delivered in her inimitable style. All the right buttons were pressed care, compassion, respect and responsibility. And, eventually, retribution. Ms Harney is some operator. The Taoiseach in waiting, Bertie Ahern, had better look to his laurels.
The economic debate was dull in contrast. Of course, the details of the party's tax cuts and enterprise assistance proposals have been circulating for almost 18 months, but Michael McDowell gave it his best shot. And he was warmly welcomed and applauded by a satisfied audience.
Just before that, the tone of the debate was set by a guest speaker, Eoghan Hynes of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, who complained that entrepreneurs paid the highest taxes in the country and "it is almost an offence to be a company director".
Mr McDowell took up the cudgels. He was utterly opposed to any new national wage agreement if it involved "the social partners concluding a deal which channels economic growth into wasteful public spending". If that happened, the tax cuts his party proposed could not be afforded.
They were not against consensus, he said. They wanted "a new, inclusive enterprising consensus instead of the present failed consensus where the biggest snouts get closest to the trough and devour the hopes and prospects of an entire generation in a feeding frenzy by the large and powerful vested interests".
For that reason the party renewed its pledge to control public spending and to eliminate waste in dote fraud and in all areas of government. Over the next five years, the party would deliver "a leaner fitter, more effective government". The choice would be between "tax and spend" Labour and the "New Deal" PDs. Departments and State agencies would be judged by what they saved and by value for money, Mr McDowell said. And social welfare for the unemployed must be based on "economic participation".
On crime, the party advocated 1,000 new prison places; a one third cut in prison staffing costs and a Yes vote in Thursday's bail referendum.
The drugs issue was centre stage, and it took on a more threatening relevance when delegates were told by Sunday World crime correspondent, Paul Williams, that drug dealers were moving "en masse" into middle class housing estates, driven out by vigilantes from working class areas. They would soon be the ones to find syringes in school grounds and in local parks, he warned.
The PDs offered "zero tolerance" to drugs. The party's candidate for Tipperary North, Joe Hennessy, proposed immediate eviction orders and closure for any premises - house, flat, pub, club, disco - in which drugs of any kind were consistently available. Financial ruin must be the price faced by any business person who turned a blind eye to drug abuse. And "old fashioned values" of law enforcement should be reintroduced on the streets. These old values, Dr Hennessy suggested, could involve the use of garda fists.
Des O'Malley was suspicious of IRA intentions. He wished John Hume well in his efforts to broker a permanent ceasefire, but said the IRA would have to commit itself in the clearest and most unequivocal terms, to the peaceful pursuit of its political aims. And it would have to "face up to the fact that some movement on decommissioning is essential to confidence building measures. There is no half way, house between democracy and terrorism. Politicians that have the support of the people don't need guns and explosives".
In the event of the talks process failing, Mr O'Malley said the two governments had a duty to draw up a plan for Northern Ireland "based on the principles of non majoritarian power sharing and equality of esteem", which could be put to both communities in a referendum, after discussion with elected representatives.
There could be no complacency in this jurisdiction in the event of another IRA ceasefire, he warned. "There can be no run down of the security measures needed to combat the IRA or the splinter groups that may yet emerge from tensions within that organisation," he said.
Overall, the conference allowed the parliamentary party to touch base with its organisation. And it reassured members that", the party was in good heart. As Ms Harney told delegates they get good value for money from their Oireachtas members. Nobody could, quibble with that.