How do you set up a political party

falteringstar

Im young (21) Im gay and I have very very liberal ideas, I really dont feel that any of the current political parties in this country are actually liberal, I know the PDs claim they are but God no they're not!

So my question is, what is the process involved in setting up your own political party?

billy the squid

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/government_in_ireland/government_and_politics_at_national_level/registering_a_political_party.html?search=political+party

you will need three hundred signitories to create the political party. quite a mean feat.

another catch, at least one of the 300 has to either be a member of the dail or the european parliment.

foxybrowne

Give it a lash, sure whats the harm?
Maybe the Liberal Party or the Social Democrats?

falteringstar

Well i dont think getting 300 signatures would be too hard, id probably get that just in college! And I know a couple people in the Dail, so maybe..... um..... ill have to think of a name!

billy the squid

the hard part is getting a dail deputy to agree to join your party.

your best option is to run as an independent and then once your in, start your party

monument

Or the Liberal Democrats, or maybe not...

dathi1

I really dont feel that any of the current political parties in this country are actually liberal,

The Labour Party ? Sinn Fein have a very extensive liberal agenda on Social policies etc.

RainyDay

falteringstar wrote:

Im young (21) Im gay and I have very very liberal ideas, I really dont feel that any of the current political parties in this country are actually liberal, I know the PDs claim they are but God no they're not!

So my question is, what is the process involved in setting up your own political party?

It's not the 300 signatures that would worry me. It's that fact that you would basically need to dedicate every waking hour to this venture to have a hope in hell of making it successful. The existing political parties rely on the resources of thousands of members to continue to exist. In order to get a new party off the ground, you'd want to be prepared to spend every evening & weekend recruiting and organising members. You'd want to be prepared to do a huge amount of fundraising just to keep your head above water.

Other posters spoke about 'get yourself elected as an independent first', as if this was something you could choose to to do instead of going for a few pints. Look at the efforts required by someone like Catherine Murphy who took a seat in the Kildare by-election. She has been operating for years as a councillor, originally within Labour and later as an independent. It takes huge commitment, dedication, funding and good old fashioned hard work to get into the Dail.

And of course, as soon as your new party gets it 2nd member, you're going to have to start compromising on policies, as you can be sure that is no-one out there that shares your views on every issue. The 3rd member will involve more compromises etc etc.

While I respect and encourage your desire to be politically active, I really don't think it is feasible to start a new party, unless you are exceptionally talented and exceptionally dedicated . Have you given serious consideration to joining the party that closest matches your views, and doing what you can to steer that party towards our own views. My own experience within the Labour party is that most members have a relatively liberal attitude, though this a shrinking group of mostly older, conservative numbers.

solo1

I have no idea what your policies are but you have one vote already. I'm not joking.

MorningStar

Forget that how do you start your own religion and get it recognised? Better tax breaks than a political party

Time Magazine

billy the squid wrote:

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/government_in_ireland/government_and_politics_at_national_level/registering_a_political_party.html?search=political+party

you will need three hundred signitories to create the political party. quite a mean feat.

another catch, at least one of the 300 has to either be a member of the dail or the european parliment.

I read that as you need 300 signatures *or* a TD to sign you up...

• It does not have less than 300 recorded members aged 18 or over... Or
• The party has at least one member who, at the time of the application, is a member of the Dáil..

solo1

You have to get elected to the Dail before you can ratify the existence of your own party? Isn't there a problem with the logic there?