Tributes quickly poured in on Wednesday when the death of Des O’Malley was announced. Respected across the political system, O’Malley, who retired from politics in 2002, was one of the central architects of 21st century Ireland. His politics of economic liberalism and social pragmatism defined the shape of public policy long after he left front-line politics. In founding the Progressive Democrats, he fractured the model of two and a half party competition in situ for decades. The Progressive Democrats took 14 seats at their first election, ended Fianna Fáil dominance, moved Ireland towards multi-partyism and firmly rooted the practice of…