It is accepted by all and sundry, however reluctantly, that Independents and smaller parties, such as the Greens and Sinn Fein, will do well in the next general election. Last summer, there was a great fanfare when it emerged that Dublin barrister, Colm MacEochaidh, hoped to lead a team of 15 TDs into the next Dail on an anti-corruption ticket. There has been no evidence of progress since. Now another group has come forth on a similar platform. The Single Issues Party (SIP) emerged in Dublin West among those opposed to toll roads and corruption in planning. Secretary Harry O'Broin, a doctor who works in medical information technology, says SIP hopes to run up to 12 candidates in constituencies along the route of the M50, on either side of the EastLink bridge and outside Dublin where toll roads may appear, in places such as Fermoy, Limerick, Ennis, Wexford and Dundalk. O'Broin lives in a listed exGuinness house at the Strawberry Beds and the toll booths for the M50 are in what used to be his front garden. He told Quidnunc that after fighting a losing battle against the development, he was disgusted to hear allegations that some of those involved had been paying money to politicians and public servants.
The SIP has some novel ideas, not least that TDs should be allowed to job share. It would encourage more women, says O'Broin, and if it means a change in the Constitution, so be it. While anti-toll roads and anti-corruption will be its main platforms, anyone with a single issue, from childcare to planning, can join the new party and seek election under its banner. O'Broin says there are several dozen in the group already, centred in West Dublin, which was a hotbed of corruption - but with its own website (www.single-issue.org), it is expanding. MacEochaidh will be contacted on a possible alliance and preparations are under way to register the party. Then it's a question of getting the candidates and avoiding the first issue on every agenda - the split.