McWilliams offers candidates assistance

Some 75 would-be volunteers turned up this afternoon to a meeting organised by economist David McWilliams to help independents standing in the election.

McWilliams has proposed that those with organisation skills and economic expertise should offer their services to independent candidates to counter the advice that candidates from the major parties would be able to give.

The meeting was held in the Gateway Building in Capel Street which is owned by John McColgan the producer of Riverdance and was offered to Democracy Now, a group of high-profile would-be candidates who now admit that they have run out of time to stand in the election.

Seven independent candidates were among those looking for advice. They included Eamonn Blaney, the son of former Government minister Neil Blaney, who said he is to announce a new political platform New Era which has the support of several independent candidates.

Others included GAA referee Michael Loftus who is standing in Dublin North-West, estate agent Nick Crawford who is going to stand in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Paul Doonan who is standing in Cork South-West.

McWilliams said he had never expected so many people to turn up and offer their services for the duration of the election. He said the turnout belied the fact that hundreds of people, who were working, sent their apologies.

He said his goal was to set up a website and a helpline for candidates who felt out of their depth on economic issues and outgunned on the doorstep by candidates from the established party who had access to professional economic advice.

"It has always struck me that one of the big impediments to independents is a lack of access to or money for advice and straight away the little guy gets elbowed out," he told those who turned up for the event.

"I have this idea with this right type of information you can make economics very democratic. It is not hard and not difficult. It is going to be more central to this election than any time in the past. If we don't get the big economic questions right, we won't get the small things right. There is no point in talking about reform if we are going to go bust."

Eamonn Blaney said the independents broadly agreed with McWilliams' views that there should be no bank bail-out and the debts of "gamblers" should be separated from sovereign debt.

McWilliams said he was sorry if people were disappointed that Democracy Now would not be fielding candidates in the general election, but he had never promised to be a politician and felt his time was better spent advising candidates who do want to be politicians.

Earlier today Eamon Dunphy, who was involved with Democracy Now, said they had run of time to organise candidates in the run-up to the election because of the fact that the election date had been moved forward.