Michael Fitzmaurice intends to talk to people about setting up rural issues political party The
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Jack Horgan-Jones
Wed Apr 19 2023 - 12:54
Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway Micheal Fitzmaurice has signalled his intention to start talks about a new political party focused on rural issues.
Mr Fitzmaurice, who has previously said he would start a new party as long ago as 2014 and was initially a member of the Independent Alliance group which entered Government in 2016, told RT's Claire Byrne programme that he intend[s] to talk to people with the ambition that together, Michael Fitzmaurice, along with others, would try and set up a rural political party ... And that may work and that may not work, to be quite frank about it.
Mr Fitzmaurice was quoted in Wednesdays Irish Daily Mail saying it is the last round in the fight for rural Ireland. He said there had to be something organised opposite to the Greens, pointing to the success of a farmers party in Dutch elections last month.
He told RT that his view was that there would be 15 to 20 constituencies that would be very rural and there would be a strong possibility and where a rural party could pick up a seat. If they did, they would be in a position if the ball bounced the right way to be putting a programme for Government together.
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He said the first thing to do would be to get a policy programme together and suggested he had been talking to people in the farming sector and the business community to see whats of interest and are people prepared to basically put their shoulder to the wheel, to stand for politics.
He said he had been speaking with a few current Independent TDs. I havent spoken to every one of them. This isnt about the politicians in the Dil, this is about what Im hearing on the ground from the ordinary people that live and work and making a living, he said.
There is people that would have an interest already, he sid, but that a policy document with input from businesses and the farming community would be needed first.
However, he suggested it was proving difficult to convince people to run for election. There are some people have said already, I would love to be involved. There are some people who say they would love to run, and there are some people that would say to you Jesus, thats not for me.
Mr Fitzmaurice also downplayed the chances of him necessarily being the leader of any new party.
Im not saying Im the right person. I never said I was the right person for it ... This is about people coming together. I never said that I was the right or the wrong person ... I am talking now about policies on rural Ireland, he said.
He also suggested that he would not run for election again in the absence of a new party being established.
If we do not have a rural party that will be working together with policies and documents and be able to fight an election that will have an input in power, I will not put my name on the ballot, he said.
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at 11:54 am