{"id":406019,"date":"2026-04-19T02:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T02:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/406019\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T02:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T02:40:12","slug":"defectors-are-queueing-to-join-us-claims-independent-ireland-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/406019\/","title":{"rendered":"Defectors are queueing to join us, claims Independent Ireland leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Collins, the Independent Ireland leader, has said more than ten councillors from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are in talks to join his party after the national fuel blockades.<\/p>\n

At the party\u2019s convention at the Galmont hotel in Galway on Saturday, Collins said Independent Ireland tapped into public sentiment during the protests by engaging directly with demonstrators \u2014 something he said the government had failed to do.<\/p>\n

While about 360 members attended the convention, Collins claimed 500 people had joined the party in the past two weeks, and its website temporarily crashed last week because of high levels of traffic. A party official later said the number of new sign-ups had reached 647 by last Friday.<\/p>\n

Ireland newsletter<\/p>\n

Our best in-depth reads, exclusive features, news and a note from our editors in Ireland.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSign up with one click<\/p>\n

The next step was to encourage politicians in establishment parties to join Independent Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust this morning, I had a Fianna Fail<\/a> councillor on the phone to me, he wanted to meet and have a sit down,\u201d Collins said. \u201cObviously this is confidential, but there\u2019s a growing number of politicians who see us as a place where they can grow their political beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are people that want to deliver and have been stifled from delivering over the last number years, and have had enough. They\u2019ve been very frustrated \u2026 whether it was [over] the Mercosur deal or whether it was fuel. For Fianna Fail, there was the presidential campaign. There\u2019s a lot of issues that have really frustrated grassroots Fianna Fail, and some of them are very decent people \u2014 and Fine Gael have very decent people \u2014 and they need a home, they need a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins said he was in discussions with \u201ca little more than ten\u201d councillors. A party administrator later said 12 Fianna Fail and Fine Gael councillors were talking about joining the party.<\/p>\n

Coalition backbenchers are privately concerned that their voters are shifting towards Independent Ireland. There was particular frustration at the controversy involving Larry Murrin, the chair of Bord Bia, whose company Dawn Foods was found to be importing a small amount of Brazilian beef. Some farmers argued this trade amounted to a conflict of interest. The government\u2019s decision to back Murrin was seen within both parties as inflammatory.<\/p>\n

Collins said more Fianna Fail than Fine Gael<\/a> representatives had made contact with him. Many conference attendees said they were former Fianna Fail members who had grown disillusioned.<\/p>\n

\"PoliticiansCollins speaking to the media at the convention on SaturdayEamon Ward<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a card-carrying member of Fianna Fail all my life,\u201d said Tony Lee, a friend and supporter of Noel Thomas, the Independent Ireland candidate for Galway West. \u201cMy father was as well, but I left. I didn\u2019t feel they represented me any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brendan Walsh and Adrian Faherty, also from Galway West, said they used to be Fianna Fail members but had joined Independent Ireland and would support Thomas in the by-election on May 22.<\/p>\n

In response to a complaint by Jennifer Whitmore of the Social Democrats, regarding remarks by Independent Ireland TDs about female ministers, Collins rejected claims that members of his party were misogynistic. Linda de Courcy, an Independent Ireland councillor for South Dublin, argued that accusations of sexism were a distraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cName-calling is just the lowest form of argument,\u201d de Courcy added. \u201cAnd if that\u2019s all you can do, if you can\u2019t take the heat in the Dail, you shouldn\u2019t be in the Dail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Richard O\u2019Donoghue, a TD for Limerick, gestured towards the party\u2019s female supporters and said: \u201cLook who\u2019s behind us.\u201d At a press conference on Saturday, female party members were positioned prominently behind speakers.<\/p>\n

After last week\u2019s confidence motion in Leinster House, Independent Ireland TDs were greeted warmly by protesters on Kildare Street, many carrying tricolour flags and chanting \u201cget them out\u201d, in reference to the coalition.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he believed far-right elements<\/a> had infiltrated the protests, Collins described such involvement as a \u201csmall part\u201d of the overall movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fairness to the protesters in Whitegate [oil refinery], they dealt with it themselves. They told those individuals to go home and made it clear they had no place in the protest. They were very careful about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people I saw there were farmers, hauliers, builders and fishermen \u2014 ordinary working people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Collins, the Independent Ireland leader, has said more than ten councillors from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-406019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}