Independent Ireland

Independent Ireland is a right-wing political party in Ireland. It was formed on 8 November 2023 by former independent TDs Michael Collins and Richard O'Donoghue. Collins said that the party seeks to provide "a comfortable alternative" to voters unhappy with the Fianna Fáil–Fine Gael–Green Party coalition but unwilling to vote for Sinn Féin.

History
Collins is the leader of the party in Dáil Éireann, while O'Donoghue serves as general secretary. O'Donoghue told the Irish Examiner that he and Collins hoped to encourage members of the Rural Independents Group in the Dáil to join. Both Collins and O'Donoghue had been members of the Rural Independents Group prior to founding the party.

Michael Fitzmaurice became the party's third TD in February 2024. In the same month, Councillors Shane P. O'Reilly and Declan Geraghty joined the party and announced their intention to contest re-election to Cavan County Council and Galway County Council respectively. John O'Donoghue joined Independent Ireland in March 2024 while standing for re-election to the Limerick City and County Council. Later that month, Noel Larkin of Galway City Council, Declan Kelly of the Galway County Council, Kenneth O'Flynn of Cork City Council, and Nigel Dineen of Roscommon County Council announced that they would run as Independent Ireland candidates in the 2024 local elections.

On 5 April 2024, the party announced that former RTÉ correspondent Ciaran Mullooly would be standing for Independent Ireland in the 2024 European Parliament election in the Midlands–North-West constituency. In the same month, Councillors Séamus Walsh and Noel Thomas of the Galway County Council, Paul Hogan of the Westmeath County Council, and Danny Collins of the Cork County Council announced they would run as Independent Ireland candidates in the 2024 local elections. On 22 April 2024, Ireland's Classic Hits Radio presenter Niall Boylan announced he would be running for party in the 2024 European Parliament election in the Dublin constituency.

On 1 May 2024, the general secretary of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) Eddie Punch, who earlier in the year said that he would run as an independent candidate at the European election, announced he had joined Independent Ireland and would be running in the South constituency. Also in May 2024, John Cassin of the Carlow County Council and Joe Bonner of the Meath County Council announced they would run as Independent Ireland candidates in the 2024 local elections.

In the European election, Independent Ireland's three candidates received 108,685 first-preference votes, coming fourth behind Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Sinn Féin. Ciaran Mullooly was elected in Midlands–North-West, with Niall Boylan coming fifth on the last count in the four-seat Dublin constituency. In the local elections, the party ranked seventh in first-preference votes, with 51,562 votes, and elected 23 of its 61 candidates. The party elected six councillors to Galway County Council and four councillors to the Cork County Council, and became the third largest party on both councils. Of its thirteen incumbents, eleven were re-elected.

Ciaran Mullooly, Independent Ireland’s sole member of the European Parliament, joined the liberal Renew Europe parliamentary group. Mullooly identifies as a centrist and has distanced himself from the more hardline stances of some party colleagues. Independent Ireland had previously taken part in a December 2023 conference organized by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). Mullooly's decision to join Renew was criticized by fellow candidate Niall Boylan, who stated he would have joined the ECR if elected, and by conservative commentator John McGuirk, who argued that Mullooly joining Renew was a "betrayal" of voters' trust. Party chairwoman Elaine Mullally subsequently resigned her position, claiming Independent Ireland no longer aligned with her values.

Policies
Independent Ireland has been described as right-wing and Euroskeptic, though some of its officeholders have rejected the "right-wing" label, instead describing the party as centrist or "common sense". In a July 2024 statement, Independent Ireland described itself as "centre-right". The party has stated it does not operate a strict party whip system and allows its members freedom to speak and vote on key issues.

Independent Ireland was the only party represented in the Dáil besides Aontú to advocate a No/No vote in the March 2024 Irish constitutional referendums. Collins has said that he's "against abortion. Full stop." Collins and O'Donoghue were co-sponsors of a 2021 bill that would have required pain relief for foetuses being aborted. The Dáil overwhelmingly defeated the bill. Collins and O'Donoghue have both been alleged to have questioned the efficacy of vaccines against COVID-19, though both have since stated that they are not anti-vaccine and they have expressed a willingness to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

The party states that it is against "open borders", claiming open borders are allowed and promoted by profiteers at the expense of the taxpayer. During the 2024 elections, a number of Independent Ireland candidates made statements that were described by opponents as anti-immigration and anti-asylum seeker. The party has pledged to enact planning reform, establish emergency modular housing schemes, and eradicate the issue of families living in emergency accommodations. It aims to reduce the cost of living by freezing and reforming the Carbon Tax. It also wishes to end the Property Tax and abolish the Universal Social Charge for people over the age of 65 to avoid taxation of pensions.

Elected representatives
In Dáil Éireann, the party has three TDs, all of whom were elected as independents but later switched to Independent Ireland. They are Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County), Michael Collins (Cork South-West) and Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon–Galway). The party has one member of the European Parliament, Ciaran Mullooly, who was elected at the 2024 European Parliament election to represent the Midlands–North-West constituency. Mullooly won the fifth and final seat in the constituency on the 21st count. Independent Ireland contested its first local elections in 2024. Prior to those elections, the party had 13 councillors that had switched to Independent Ireland. Of those 13, 11 were re-elected and a further 12 were elected under the party name, for a total of 23 elected councillors. The party performed well in the elections to the Galway and Cork county councils, electing six and four councillors respectively, and becoming the third largest party on each council.