Independents 4 Change | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Headquarters | 21 Elmwood Drive, Swords, Dublin |
| Ideology | Socialism [1] Anti-neoliberalism [2] |
| European Parliament group | The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL |
| Local government | 2 / 949 |
| European Parliament | 2 / 13 |
Independents 4 Change [3] is an Irish political party.
The political grouping registered as a political party since 2014. [4] It was previously known as Independents for Equality Movement.
The party adopted its current name in September 2015, after the establishment of the Right2Change electoral alliance, which its candidates in the 2016 general election subscribed.
Within the 32nd Dáil, I4C took advantage of revised Dáil standing orders to form their own technical group, which also included three Independent TDs who were not members of the party itself: Catherine Connolly, Thomas Pringle, and Maureen O'Sullivan. [5] [6] [7]
Tommy Broughan left the party on 26 July 2016. [8] [ failed verification ]
In 2016 Ruth Nolan, a member of South Dublin County Council for Lucan who had been elected for People Before Profit, joined Independents 4 Change.[ citation needed ]
In May 2020, Joan Collins left I4C to found a new party called Right to Change, leaving the party with no TDs. [9]
Four candidates contested the 2014 local elections for the group in each of the local electoral areas in Wexford County Council. [10] None of them were elected.
Mick Wallace, [11] Clare Daly, [11] Joan Collins, [12] and Tommy Broughan, [13] and councillor Barry Martin [11] contested the 2016 general election for Independents 4 Change, with Broughan, Collins, Daly and Wallace being elected.
At the 2019 European Parliament election, Clare Daly and Mick Wallace were elected as MEPs; they became part of The Left group in the European Parliament as did the Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy. Three councilors were elected for Independents 4 Change in the local elections held on the same day, including former Labour TD from Sligo, and longtime Independent Socialist councillor Declan Bree.
In the 2020 general election, Independents 4 Change returned one TD, Joan Collins in Dublin South-Central. However, Collins would leave the party a few months into the new Dáil, forming a new political party, Right to Change.
| Election | Seats won | ± | Position | First pref. votes | % | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 4 / 158 |  4 |  6th | 31,365 | 1.5% | Fine Gael – Independents with Fianna Fáil confidence & supply |
| 2020 | 1 / 160 |  3 | 9th | 8,421 | 0.4% | Fianna Fáil – Fine Gael – Green Party |
| Election | Seats won | ± | First pref. votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 0 / 949 | | 1,828 | 0.1% |
| 2019 | 3 / 949 | 3 | 8,626 | 0.5% |
| Election | Seats won | ± | First pref. votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2 / 13 | 2 | 124,085 | 7.4% |
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The Socialist Party is a political party in Ireland, active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Internationally, it is affiliated to the Trotskyist International Socialist Alternative. The party has been involved in various populist campaigns including the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign and the Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes. Members of the party were jailed for their part in the former, while members have been arrested for their role in the latter. It had a seat in the European Parliament from 2009 to 2014. In 2015, the party received state funding of €132,000.
Thomas Broughan is an Irish former Independent politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1992 to 2020.
In politics, a technical group or mixed group is a heterogeneous group of elected officials from political parties or independents of differing ideologies. They are formed for technical reasons so that members enjoy rights or benefits that would remain unavailable to them outside a formally recognized parliamentary group. A technical group is distinguished from parliamentary groups by differing ideologies within the group.
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Clare Daly is an Irish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Dublin constituency since July 2019. She is a member of Independents 4 Change, part of The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL.
Richard Boyd Barrett is an Irish People Before Profit–Solidarity politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency since the 2011 general election. Boyd Barrett is a former member of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council. He is also chair of the Irish Anti-War Movement and has been cited on war issues in the Irish media.
Joan Collins is an Irish Right to Change politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-Central constituency since the 2011 general election.
Maureen O'Sullivan is an Irish former independent politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Central constituency from 2009 to 2020.
Michael Wallace is an Irish politician and former property developer who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the South constituency since July 2019. He is a member of Independents 4 Change, part of The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wexford constituency from 2011 to 2019.
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Dáil Éireann is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann. It consists of 160 members, each known as a Teachta Dála. TDs represent 39 constituencies and are directly elected for terms not exceeding five years, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). Its powers are similar to those of lower houses under many other bicameral parliamentary systems and it is by far the dominant branch of the Oireachtas. Subject to the limits imposed by the Constitution of Ireland, it has power to pass any law it wishes, and to nominate and remove the Taoiseach. Since 1922, it has met in Leinster House in Dublin.
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Cian O'Callaghan is an Irish politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay North constituency since the 2020 general election and deputy leader of the Social Democrats since 2023. In 2012, as a member of Fingal County Council, he became Ireland's first openly gay mayor. O'Callaghan was a member of Fingal County Council from 2009 to 2020.
A by-election was held in the Dáil Éireann Wexford constituency in Ireland on Friday, 29 November 2019, to fill the vacancy left by the election of Independents 4 Change TD Mick Wallace to the European Parliament.
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Media related to Independents 4 Change at Wikimedia Commons
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