Editing Progressive Democrats (section)

===Electoral breakthrough and coalition===
[[File:Progressive Democrats (Ireland) logo, circa 1980s.png|thumb|250px|upright=1.2|The first logo of the party, used during the 1980s]]
At the [[1987 Irish general election|1987 general election]] the new party won 14 seats and 11.9% of the vote, becoming the third-largest party in the [[25th Dáil]]. The Progressive Democrats formed the second-largest opposition party under difficult circumstances. The minority Fianna Fáil government introduced some of the economic reforms that the Progressive Democrats had recommended. Fianna Fáil was however largely supported by Fine Gael where the economy was concerned, and so the Progressive Democrats had difficulty being effective in opposition.

After the [[1989 Irish general election|1989 general election]], the party had only six seats but formed a coalition government with Fianna Fáil, with Charles Haughey as [[Taoiseach]], which was the first time Fianna Fáil entered coalition. PD leader Desmond O'Malley served as [[Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment|Minister for Industry and Commerce]].

In 1990, a scandal broke surrounding [[Tánaiste]] (deputy prime minister) [[Brian Lenihan Snr]]'s role in pressuring President [[Patrick Hillery]] not to allow then-Taoiseach [[Garret FitzGerald]] to dissolve the Dáil in 1982. The Progressive Democrats gave Haughey an ultimatum—unless Lenihan was removed from cabinet, they would pull out of the coalition and support a no-confidence motion in the government. Haughey tried to force Lenihan to resign, and sacked him when he refused. A year later, after former Justice Minister [[Seán Doherty (Roscommon politician)|Seán Doherty]] claimed that Haughey had authorised [[Irish phone tapping scandal|tapping journalists' phones]] in the 1980s, the PDs told Haughey that they would tear up the coalition agreement if he remained as Taoiseach. With O'Malley's approval, Haughey stood down as Taoiseach in February 1992. He was replaced by [[Albert Reynolds]], and O'Malley retained his cabinet post.