The ‘New’ Parties and where they are at December 6, 2010
Posted by irishelectionliterature in Irish Politics.Tags: Irish Politics, republic of ireland
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Since the Last General Election what must be a record number of Political parties have been set up. Some like The Priorities Party lasted a while whilst others have stayed the course.
Social Networking, Message Boards and splits from other parties have all played a large part in allowing people to focus on their common beliefs.
So who are these new parties and will we be seeing them on ballot papers come the next election?
To give you a brief idea of what we’re doing now, we’re setting up regional groups in the municipal centres and embarking on a media campaign to raise public awareness of who we are and what we do in the run up to the election. We’d like to have candidates in the GE, but time is short, that is the goal however
As for candidates, we’re working those details out. So I can’t preempt outcomes at the moment. My outlook is that there will definitely be a new registered party before the election with candidates.
the short answer is yes. However we need to register as a political party first which we are in the process of working towards
Fís Nua intends to be a registered party in time for the General Election, and will have candidates standing. These candidate have yet to undergo a selection process, which is in progress.
The Irish Democratic Party are also working to become registered and field Candidates.
Possibly the newest party is An Chomhdháil Phobail | The People’s Convention (CPPC)
who
“do intend having candidates, however these are to be selected by citizens throught their Peoples Conventions and therefore won’t be available for a few weeks yet. CPPC is not yet registered officially as a ‘party’ but will be.”
Then there is the recently launched Independents’ Movement of Ireland (IMI).
IMI is not a party, but a platform designed to encourage Independent candidates, in every constituency in Ireland, to run for office, and also to encourage voters to back them, en masse, and break the stranglehold the political parties have over us.
There is also The Democratic Reform Party which I was unable to get in contact with.
Another group is Citizens First, again I’m unaware if they intend to stand candidates.
I’m unaware if éirígí intend standing candidates or not either.
Ross O’Mullane stood for United Minds in the 2009 Dublin South By-Election. I’m unaware if United Minds intend standing a candidate.
The Seniors Solidarity Party stood John Wolfe in the 2009 Local Elections in Howth/Malahide where he received 1,319 votes (5.9%) but was not elected. They hoped to have candidates at the forthcoming Election but again I was unable to contact them.
The Letterkenny Residents Party has a councillor but I gather that they won’t be fielding a candidate.
As to how they will all do … that’s another days work.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
There’s also a new “thinktank” called the national forum
It’s patrons are very familiar to Cedar Lounge readers
http://nationalforum.ie/?page_id=30
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Probably not covered here because they’d have changed their name by the time the post was finished.
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Yes, they were called “National Alliance” for about five minutes before it was pointed out to them that this is a common nom de guerre for international Fascist parties.
It hasn’t yet occurred to them who else uses the initials “NF” in the English-language version of their name. In fairness, this is what you should expect for putting McGuirk in charge of your PR.
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I gather that the National Alliance crowd are considering running candidates.
I wonder could Ganley step forward in their hour of need?
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Are these mostly small groups of cranks?
That’s a serious question by the way, not an assessment.
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Some such as Fís Nua are of a decent enough size, how many members they all have I don’t really know.
To register a new party it has to have at least 300 members, so we’ll get an indication of their sizes if they become registered or not.
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I didn’t really mean Fis Nua or Eirigi when I asked that!
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Sorry Mark, I don’t really know. I asked a few of them if they had many members and the standard reply was that they were all working to become registered.
You might be able to draw some conclusions from the news that there were failed talks between Amhran Nua, The Democratic Reform Party, The Irish Democrats and the Irish Liberal Party with a view to possible co-operation or amalgamation.
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Failed talks? A good sign that – eh?
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That ILP is gas. From the Facebook page it’s all “I” and no “we” (although “my wife” is also mentioned once), but the website does state several “employment opportunities (unpaid)” (ironic on many levels, if you read the policies).
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Is that the same group who put up those cringe-inducing ‘Yes in the City’ posters during the Lisbon campaign?
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No, that’s a different bunch, AFAIK.
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I remember an Irih Liberal party from the early 70s, maybe even late 60s. Same thing?
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No, the current bunch appear to be a very small group chiefly influenced by US style right-libertarianism.
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There was a Party called the Community Democrats of Ireland which was allied to the UK Liberal Party. They stood a number of candidates in the 1979 European Elections…
http://irishelectionliterature.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/interview-with-christopher-morris-of-the-community-democrats-of-ireland-1979-european-elections/
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There is a disillusionment with mainstream party politics for sure. When FF, FG and Labour all agree to shore up the economic system by means of inequitable taxation and support for bailouts of powerful institutions thinking citizens must get disillusioned.
Between the lines I’d guess that most of the groups (why call them parties?) haven’t really tapped into many followers. Their leaders have no political experience, and probably no public allure. Expect lots of lost deposits in the general election.
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[…] [32] https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/the-new-parties-and-where-they-are-at/ […]
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I gather Fís Nua has reached the number of registered party members needed to Register a political party and have the paperwork to become a Registered Party.
So thats one group that will appear on a ballot paper.
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You’d wonder how many candidates they can field.
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In spite of having had a look at their website, I still have no idea what fis nua is all about nor whether I’d support them. While always suspicious of those who describe themselves as ‘neither right not left’, I’d rather they were just honest about it from the start. It’s not like you can be an apolitical political party.
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Fís Nua has sent in their registration paperwork – just waiting now to go through the process, however long that takes. We also held a Convention on 18th Dec, where about 40 or so new motions were passed – they will be up on the website after the Christmas break.
Tim, I’d agree with you, the ‘neither left nor right’ can be confusing, but that might be because individual members and/or candidates might not want to ‘label’ themselves, or may find themselves somewhere along the spectrum on different issues. That’s the thing about a Federated Party – individuals, groups and organisations are free to ‘define’ themselves as they see themselves, not as is dictated by the party.
I’d prefer people to read the manifesto and decide for themselves.
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Serious question: Do these ‘new parties’ have an all-Ireland approach/vision or do they stop at the Border?
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The Irish Liberal Party has since merged with the Irish Democratic Party.
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