Creighton calls for funding of new political parties

Reform Alliance TD and former Minister of State Lucinda Creighton has called for State funding for groups that wish to form new political parties.

“If a new party is being established, with a certain number of figures or a certain number of public representatives coming together and forming a nucleus, there should be a way to apply for public funding in this instance,” said Ms Creighton on ‘The Irish Times’ Inside Politics podcast.

The Dublin South East TD and former Fine Gael member is expected to establish a new right-of-centre political party. Funding "is probably the biggest obstacle to it, because you can't really do anything without a basic minimum number of staff," she said.

“I’m not talking about flying in Barack Obama’s social media expert, as other parties are doing at taxpayers expense, but just to do the basics it costs a lot of money. Politics is expensive,” she said.

On her plans to form a new party, Ms Creighton said she was “not in a position to make any clear announcement as yet, but there are positive discussions ongoing”.

She again expressed scepticism over independent TD Shane Ross’s plan to establish an alliance of independent TDs and councillors, saying that such a group would lack a coherent economic vision for the country.

“They’re not really giving people something to vote for,” she said.

Ms Creighton also criticised the current Coalition's economic policy. "It's the exact same model as Fianna Fáil, over-reliance on foreign direct investment, which is precarious to say the least, and a return to fuelling a property bubble," she said.