A Co Cork teacher, Ms Aine Ni Chonaill, an Independent candidate in Cork South West, is running on a ticket seeking an urgent reduction in the number of nonnationals arriving in Ireland.
Ms Ni Chonaill said she had been concerned for some years that foreigners, including "hippies" from Britain, had been arriving in Ireland and the election provided her with a platform to air her concerns.
She said she would stand as a single issue candidate. There were two planks to her platform - that there were too many British and German nationals arriving in Ireland, and that there were too many asylum seekers - mostly bogus - being allowed to enter the State.
The reason for this, she continued, was that Ireland was a sparsely populated State with good social welfare and other benefits.
Ms Ni Chonaill said she had paid her £300 deposit to stand as an Independent candidate and that her campaign would cost about £1,000. There was no question of her losing the deposit as, she said, ordinary people were just as concerned as she was about immigration.
She said she had no campaign team, but was working hard to ensure that she took a seat in Cork South West. Asked what evidence she had for the level of immigration, she said she had gathered her evidence by reading newspapers.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Democrat Dun Laoghaire TD, Ms Helen Keogh, claims Ireland's system of protection for refugees is in danger of being overwhelmed by "professional beggars".
Dun Laoghaire is "one of the first ports of call for such professional beggars" who were causing problems for local traders, tourists and for the general public. Fifty people were arriving weekly at Ireland's ports and airports claiming political asylum and status.
"Such a claim automatically triggers eligibility for the full range of State services. The annual cost to Irish taxpayers of every 100 asylum seekers is estimated to be £500,000."
However, the Green Party has called such claims "scaremongering" and said politicians would be better engaged in highlighting "the fact that the sooner asylumseekers are accepted into Ireland, the sooner they can work and contribute fully to their new country".
Cllr Ciaran Cuffe, the Green Party's candidate in Dublin Central, has called for the full implementation of the Refugee Act, which commits Ireland to establishing a fair and efficient system to decide who is a refugee and who is not.
"We cannot accept huge numbers of economic migrants, but as we commemorate the anniversary of the Famine and remember the Irish diaspora, we must ensure that a closed door is not our response to economic difficulties in poorer countries.
"We support the call by the Irish Refugee Council for the establishment of a task force to provide a plan of action for the reception of asylumseekers in Ireland," Cllr Cuffe said. "This would ensure that genuine political refugees are not left in limbo waiting for their application to be processed."
Ms Keogh said Ireland "must continue to show a welcome to those persons who are genuine refugees, but this can only be achieved by ensuring that the asylumseeking process is speeded up".