The Democracy Now movement was confident it could raise half a million euro and up to a million to fund its campaign if it had gone ahead, according to journalist Fintan O'Toole.
He said the organisers would not have dreamed of launching it without €200,000 to €250,000 "on tap" and they had a number of five figure pledges from people who wanted to lend support.
A lawyer had been in contact with the Standards in Public Office Commission to discuss registering as a third party and someone with knowledge of IT had done substantial work on a website and the organisation of an online campaign.
Substantial fund raising would have taken place over the web with the identity of all donors being disclosed. Mr O'Toole said they would have accepted donations from all tax resident Irish citizens.
He said the project came to an end when five potential candidates pulled out in the middle of last week as it became obvious the election would be happening earlier than had been envisaged. "We had to be clear headed about it and recognise that we had failed."
Mr O'Toole said the idea of standing for election had been discussed by him and economic commentator David McWilliams prior to Christmas. However it wasn't until two weeks ago that they decided to go ahead with the Democracy Now idea.
Senator Shane Ross and journalist Eamon Dunphy quickly came on board. "That was pretty much the core group."
While the initial idea was to have a candidate in each of the 43 constituencies this was reduced to approximately 20. At one point they felt confident of approximately 15 candidates but when five pulled out, the idea was shelved.
Mr O'Toole said the candidates included existing independent candidates "though obviously not Jackie Healey Rae or Michael Lowry". Asked why they would be excluded, he said the objective was to change the political culture. He said he did not want to name the people who might have been prepared to go forward.
While Mr Dunphy has since said the organisation might have some role in the future Mr O'Toole said he thought it was a response to an immediate electoral situation. He was finished with it though he might become involved if in the future it became involved in civil society initiatives.
Seamus Boland, chief executive of the Irish Rural Link organisation said he was contacted by Mr O'Toole two Saturdays ago and asked to stand. He agreed and said the response he received from those he approached to get involved was very positive but that there just wasn't enough time.
"We would have been slaughtered. It was far too late," he said. "They had a good plan. I think there is a need for it. I think the idea will carry eventually."
Mr McWilliams has since become involved in organising volunteers who might want to assist independent candidates with their understanding of economics. Mr O'Toole was intending standing as a candidate if the project had gone ahead. Mr McWilliams has said he did not intend standing. He could not be contacted yesterday. Senator Ross, who is standing as an independent in the election, did not return a call to his office.
The Irish Times columnist Elaine Byrne said she was contacted by Mr McWilliams in mid December after she had appeared on TV. She said he asked her if she would stand in the upcoming election and said he was in contact with "a loose coalition" of people who were going to put their names forward.
He did not disclose these names. She said she did not take up the suggestion but that he was definitely intending running himself at that stage. She said she met him on three occasions and each time was given the impression he was going to stand.