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Sunday, 9 October 2016

Tommy Broughan not an Independent TD but a member of a registered political party Independents 4 Change

Update Tommy Broughan says he left the Independents 4 Change party 26th July 2016.
Tommy Broughan

Tommy Broughan candidate and now TD for Dublin Bay North was and is refusing to say that he ran for party.



Notice of Poll Dublin Bay North



The Oireachtas website lists him as member of Independents 4 Change, but its often out of date and slow to update, so not the best source. It lists Seamus Healy as a member of WUAG when he ran as non-party in 2016.. There is no public official source of current Dail group membership.

The media also often call him an Independent TD rather then name his party Indepenents 4 Change.

Tommy Broughan at the Near FM election debate say he is a Right2Change independent who works with 6 or 7 other independents but does not mention he is a member of the party.


Right2Change
Right2Change is a political movement born out of the Right2Water campaign.
Associated 2016 candidates

RTE interviewed Tommy Broughan a few times and at no time did Tommy Broughan volunteer which party he was working for or did RTE say which party.

On the 19th of February Drivetime asked him who he would work with in the Dail and he doesn't mention any of the Independent 4 Change candidates.
2016 02 19 Drive Time
2016 02 24 The Late Debate

On RTE Campaign Daily says Tommy Broughan ‘if you run as an Independent your obligation is to serve as Independent’ while running for a political party.

Tommy Broughan RTE election 2016.
RTE refused to recognise Independents 4 Change during the election, it had Tommmy Broughan listed under Independents 4 change but then changed it why?

I emailed RTE and various other media end never got explaination.

I commented on Tommy Broughan Facebook about my desire for him to name the party, his assistant suggested I call him but Im not interested in having a phone conversation about it I just wnat him to publically name the party he ran for.

Irish Times would not list his party, nor would the Irish Examiner, Independent Newstalk or the Sunday Business Post



Political Assistant
Political Assistant job ad July 2016
Political Assistant required by the office of Tommy Broughan TD of Independents 4 Change
have a keen interest in developing political organisation at local, constituency and national level for Deputy Broughan and Independents 4 Change.


2017
In a story on the 7th February 2017 in the Irish Mirror by Kieran Dineen that mentions Tommy Broughan who says
he is no longer an Independents4Change TD.
So I again emailed Tommy Broughan to ask what date he resigned from the Independents4chnge party. He replied by avoiding answering the question I asked him, he said “I am an Independent TD who is in a Technical Group which includes members of the Independents 4 Change group for many months past.” so I replied ‘please can you tell me exactly what date you resigned from the Independents4change party?’ no reply, Im not sure he has resigned.

Parliamentary Activity Allowance
Each Party and Independent gets a Parliamentary Activity Allowance (PAA) but if a member is elected for a party and then leaves the party the money stays with the party. Why would Tommy Broughan join a party only to cut himself off from this source of funding?

The amount payable to party leaders is calculated on a tiered basis by reference to the number of party members who are elected or nominated to the Dáil or Seanad and is fixed at the time of the election, or following a bye-election, as follows:

Party TDs ​ Annual Rate per Member Government Parties *

​First 10 Members €64,368 ​€42,912

​11 to 30 Members €51,493 ​€34,329

More than 30 Members €25,754 ​ €17,169

The PER webpage and this document on it that shows the 32nd Dail rates and this Dail Question.
Party Annual Rate per annum
Fianna Fáil €2,433,946
Fine Gael €1,837,885
Sinn Féin €1,565,624
Labour Party €661,021
AAA-PBP € 386,208
Independents 4 Change €257,472
Social Democrats €193,104
Green Party €170,825

Parliamentary Activity Allowance
5. Claiming the allowance
5.1 The allowance is payable monthly in arrears for each week the person was, at any
time during that week, a member of the Dáil or Seanad.

Clarifiation from PER department,

The Independents 4 Change Party had 4 members elected to the Dáil (no members in the Seanad). Therefore, the monthly amount due to the Party is €21,456 (i.e. €5,364 x 4). The figure of €241,659.22 stated in our previous reply is made up of €21,456 x 11 months (March 2016 – January 2017 inclusive) + an amount of €5,643.22 for part of February 2016 – the month in which the General Election was held.

Ceann Comhairle
The Ceann Comhairle claims not to know which TD is in which party.

Independents 4 Change



Mick Wallace's renamed party 'Independents 4 Change' name (previous Independent for Equality Movement). Mick Wallace originally registered the party as Independent for Equality Movement and ran 4 candidate in the local election 2014, none of whom got elected, he then change the name in September 2015. The register of Political Parties.

RTE's Election site has a page for not a party Independents Alliance but not for the party 'Independents 4 Change'.

Independent 4 Change candidates.
Barry Martin Notice of Poll Dublin Fingal
Clare Daly Notice of Poll Dublin Fingal
Tommy Broughan Notice of Poll Dublin Bay North
Joan Collins Notice of Poll Dublin South Central
Mick Wallace Notice Of Poll Wexford

Candidates associated with Independents 4 change are former People before Profit now I4C Fingal County Councillor Barry Martin former United Left members SLigo county councillor Declan Bree and Dublin City councillor Pat Dunne. Emmett Smith running in Cavan Monaghan and Barbara Smyth in Longford Westmeath, although none of the official ran for Independents 4 change on the ballot they all ran as 'non-party'.

'Independents 4 Change' party got 4 TDs elected more TDs then Socdems(3) or the Green Party(2) or Renua(0) and media still often won't list them.




Their position on the rota is before the Greens or Social Democrats or the GP/SD group.
Standing Orders: Motion 8 June 2016

Tommy Brougahn: I was elected as a Right2Change candidate and an Independent 4 Change
Dail Debate 6 April 2016

Mick Wallace and Clare Daly of Independents4Change on Justice committee

2 early examples of Clare Daly and Mick Wallace using Independents 4 Change to speak before Social Democrats and the Greens 1,2.

Tommy Broughan speaking before Catherine Murphy TD in the Dail using the advatnages of being in a party.


I4C policies are conveyed in Dail Motions eg. Private Members Motion (Independents 4 Change) 29 June 2016 establish a Commission of Investigation into Nama.

Independent 4 Change Group
Under new Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann there is no limit to the number of technical groups.

Independents TDs Maureen O'Sullivan, Catherine Connnolly and Thomas Pringle have joined the I4C group for Dail speaking time and committee positions. (all Right2change associated candidates except for Catherine Connolly).

Mick Wallace: Independents 4 Change group - myself and Deputies Clare Daly, Joan Collins, Tommy Broughan, Catherine Connolly and Thomas Pringle
Dáil debates 14 April 2016

Ministers told they must seek permission to miss Dáil votes over ‘delicate voting situation’ Irish Times Sarah Bardon Jun 1, 2016.

Meanwhile, Independent TDs Catherine Connolly, Maureen O’Sullivan and Thomas Pringle have aligned themselves with Independents4Change.
Ms O’Sullivan insisted she had not joined the party but would align herself with the technical group for speaking time.
Catherine Connolly: I thank Thomas Pringle, who represented views of Independents4Change group on the sub-committee
Report of Sub-Committee on Dáil Reform: Motion (Resumed) 19 May 2016

Mick Wallace elections posters with Independents 4 Change logo on the bottom.

Registering a political party
Registering a political party in Ireland Citizen Information Board.

To be registered, your party has to satisfy the Registrar that it is organised to contest elections. Your party must also have one of the following:

It must have at least one member who, at the time of the application, is a member of the Dáil or a representative of the European Parliament and who certifies in writing to the Registrar that he or she is a member of the party.
Contact the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties and request an application form. You will receive a copy of the application form, together with with a copy of the relevant extract from the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 2001. The application form to register your political party is not currently available to download online.

In addition, the party must have a constitution, a memorandum or another document or set of rules that have been adopted by the party and that provide for:
An annual or other periodic meeting or conference of the party
An executive committee or similar body elected by the party, which administers the business of the party.

The register of Political Parties.

So does it qualify as a party? I don't know how many meetings its had, the Social Democrats have yet to hold their first national AGM over a year after forming. Its due to be held in November 2016.

Polling

Various polling companies are including a not a party Independents Alliance but not including registered political party Independents 4 Change, is this based on the number of candidates? Even though some other parties such as the Social Democrats did not have candidate in all constituencies but there had 13/14 candidate which is enough to base a realistic poll on. Independent Alliance put up 20 candidates and elected 6 while I4C registered candidates but up 5 with 2 associated and elected the 4 incumbent TDs.

Links
Independents 4 Change on Politics.ie
Consolidated Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann 2016
Dublin Bay North on politics.ie
Independents 4 Change on politics.ie

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Posted by dublinstreams at 12:21

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