Dublin 8’s views on new political party

With the introduction of Renua Ireland, the new political party set up by former Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton, John Smith asks the public if new political parties are just what the Irish government needs to move forward.

Sean Reid – Dublin 8

Sean Reid
Photo Credit: John Smith

“I think when you have new political parties you have some benefits, some merits, whereby they can introduce new thinking into, quite often a very stagnant and tunnel – vision political establishment. But, I would question how much of an impact are they going to have because, it takes years and years and years for political parties to really grow. I don’t see anything wrong with new parties forming but at the same time what’s the point in having a thousand political parties all with slightly different causes because people split off and set up their own one which they want to be ideologically pure. So I think yeah, they do have some benefits but at the same time let’s keep control”.

 Scott Whelan – Templeogue

Scott Whelan
Photo Credit: John Smith

“Out with the old I say! If in doubt kick them out! I’m a fervent believer of injecting fresh blood into the system and challenging the traditional way of thinking and being. New parties could certainly shake things up but it’s hard to determine if they will be the way forward for Irish politics. That said, clearly the Fine Gael “democratic revolution” of 2011 has been anticlimactic to say the very least. Corruption and cronyism still knows no bounds with our current leaders and the opinions of the electorate seemingly confirm the government’s poor performance in making the radical changes it promised. The real challenge for any budding political party is figuring out how exactly they want to play the field. They surely will have to make a tax cut home run and hurdle over the hospital trolley crisis, but perhaps they should ponder Harney’s Boston or Berlin dilemma. It does seem like we are suffering a collective political identity crisis”.

David Lowry – Kilmainham

David Lowry
Photo Credit: John Smith

“I think the problem with Irish politics is that parties have become too rigid in their policies and are not open to change. This has led to so many new parties springing up (like Renua Ireland) who are almost identical to parties already in existence, but just with one or two policies that distinguish them. From my perspective, it just ends up in more confusion rather than choice. What would be better would be if Irish political parties got rid of the whip system and allowed themselves to be flexible to change, so that splinter groups would no longer need to emerge. I think having choice is crucial in a democracy, and I’m glad we don’t live in a two party dominated country, but I think the range of parties we have in Ireland gives off a false illusion of choice when in reality so many of them are almost the same”.

Ashlinn Huisman – Firhouse

Ashlinn Huisman
Photo Credit: John Smith

“While I agree that Ireland is strongly in need of fresh ideas and a new way of thinking, I am not entirely convinced that a new political party is the solution. Following on from the economic downturn, I believe that the Irish public is desperately seeking drastic change, as all trust has been lost in the political parties currently in power. In theory, the introduction of a new political party should result in positive change as increased competition will force a change to the status quo and the ordinary citizen will feel they have a voice again. However, new doesn’t always mean better. A new party may make bold statements about ideas they wish to implement but they have no proven track record, no proof that these objectives will be achieved. They may simply be an addition to the long list of political parties who have made promises only to break them once in power”.

The overall opinion seems to be that while new parties are a good idea at first, the lack of difference in their policies makes you question if it is worth having so much choice when deep down so many are fundamentally the same.