Cork TD Michael Collins to lead new political party
Michael Collins TD will be the party leader of the new Independent Ireland party. File Picture Dan Linehan
Cork South-West TD Michael Collins will lead a new political party, it has been announced.
The Electoral Commission today announced that Mr Collins would lead and Limerick County TD Richard O'Donoghue would be the General Secretary of the Independent Ireland party.
A statement today said that the Registrar of Political Parties has today "given notice of his intention to approve an application by the Independent Ireland party to become a registered political party eligible to stand candidates in Ireland’s Dáil, local and European elections".
"The decision made by the Chief Executive of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, the Electoral Commission, Mr. Art O’Leary, as Ireland’s Registrar of Political Parties, will become effective after a 21-day appeal period, or the outcome of any such appeal.
"If registered as Ireland’s 27th political party, Independent Ireland will have two elected Dáil Deputies among its membership – Michael Collins TD (Party Leader) and Richard O’ Donoghue TD (General Secretary).
"The formal notification has today been published in the official Irish State gazette, Iris Oifigiúil."
Mr Collins had said that he had no interest in joining the new Farmers Alliance (FA) political party.
The West Cork TD told the that he was not involved in discussions to join the new political party, which was announced in August.
He said that the party appeared to be a group of concerned individuals who were “dead right” to be concerned, saying that rural Ireland was being “hammered left, right, and centre”.
Mr O'Donoghue told the that the two men had decided to put together the party after listening for many years to others talking about doing it.
"People have been talking for long enough, so we decided to finally do it," he said.
Mr O'Donoghue said that the party would be less traditional in terms of its structure and was aiming to be a support for independents across the board who wanted to run for election.
"We'll work with all independents whether they want to be part of the party or part of a grouping. It's rural and urban - what we want is to see a balanced distribution of the funds from Dublin to allow people grow their towns and villages. Cork, Limerick, and Galway have had no infrastructure spend in years and the towns are suffering.
"We will facilitate everyone and give an alternative to people who don't want to vote for the established parties who are sometimes out of touch with their constituencies because they're in the party whip system."
Mr O'Donoghue said that the party is hoping for 60 council candidates next year, along with people running for the Dáil and for Europe.
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