From the 2009 Local Elections. Independent candidate Marie Reddin who was unsuccessful in her attempt at winning a seat on Athone Town Council.

Marie Reddin -Independent -Athlone TC 2009 April 4, 2010
Mike Cosgrave -Independent -2002 Seanad Election
From the 2002 Seanad Elections Independent candidate Mike Cosgrave.
Founder of the greenpages.com amongst other things.

‘National Government -Our Only Hope’ Tom Sharkey -Independent -1987 Dublin South April 1, 2010
‘National Government -Our Only Hope’ wrote Independent candidate Thomas Sharkey running in the 1987 General Election in Dublin South.
Not many agreed with Thomas Sharkey as he polled 189 votes, even then getting more votes than 3 other candidates.
Wonderful posters for Seamas O’Neill -Independent -Dundrum -2009 Local Elections. March 26, 2010
Two wonderful and unusual posters for Independent candidate Seamas O’Neill for the 2009 Local Elections in Dundrum.
Seamus O’Neill polled 603 votes and failed to be elected. Still his posters were very noticable for their uniqueness during the campaign.
(many thanks to Seamus O’Neill for sending me these at the time)

Tom Crosby- Independent -2004 LE Roscommon March 14, 2010
From the 2004 Local elections, Independent candidate Tom Crosby running in the Strokestown LEA for Roscommon County Council. Tom Crosby was initially elected as a Fianna Fail councillor in 1991. He has been re-elected to the council ever since.

‘ahead…. with Hederman’ -Carmencita Hederman- Independent 1985 Local Elections Pembroke. March 5, 2010
From the 1985 local Elections in the Pembroke Ward, Independent Community Candidate Carmencita Hederman. The picture is of her going over the ‘new’ East Link bridge.
Carmencita Hederman was first elected to the council in 1974 and served until 1999. She was Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1987–88 during the Dublin Millennium celebrations. In 1989 she was elected to the Seanad for the University of Dublin Seat and served one term.
The Leaflet below gives an outline of her activities and career.
The picture on the bottom of the leaflet is of a building at the bottom of Eglington road (opposite Donnybrook Rugby ground). There was controversy when the building was built and given planning permission. This was then added to by the fact that once built the building could not find a tenant for a long period of time.
Her daughter Wendy Hederman was elected to the council for the Progressive Democrats in 2004.

Malachy Godfrey -Independent -1999 Local Elections Drogheda February 27, 2010
From the 1999 Local Elections for Drogheda Town Council Independent candidate Malachy Godfrey. Malachy Godfrey was elected and relected in 2004.

Mary Roche-Independent -Waterford 2007 February 25, 2010
From the 2007 General Election, Independent Councillor Mary Roche in Waterford. A former Fianna Fail councillor, Mary Roche She resigned from FF in 2003 due to their failure to deliver on the 2002 Election promise regarding radiotherapy for Waterford.
The Leaflet also contains a wonderful flow chart.

Ross O’Mullane -United Minds -Dublin South By-Election 2009 February 24, 2010
From the 2009 Dublin South By-Election, United Minds/ Independent candidate Ross O’Mullane. He polled 650 votes
O’Mullane writes….
If elected I will enable every citizen in Dublin South to speak and vote on decisions that affect us all using our website http://www.unitedminds.ie.
The idea of consulting constituents over decisions is not new, nor was it new to Dublin South.
In 1997 Gerard Dolan stood for Political Organisation for Work(POW) and planned to ask voters each month their views on issues that were to come up in the Dail.
Paul McNulty – NUI Seanad 1989 February 23, 2010
From the 1989 NUI Seanad Election, UCD Agriculture Professor Paul McNulty. He just missed out on winning a seat. He stood again in 1992 but again just fell short.

Joe Behan -Fianna Fail (now Independent)-2007 GE Wicklow February 22, 2010
From the 2007 General election. The now Independent TD Joe Behan when running for Fianna Fail in Wicklow. He is full of praise for outgoing Independent TD Mildred Fox.
Joe Behan has been a councillor since 1985, so would be well acquainted with many of the problems in Wicklow and indeed well set up to hold his seat.
The Green Agenda, Farming, commuting,Housing and Education (Joe Behan is an ex Primary School Principal and Teacher) are the main issues he asks for support upon.

‘VOTE MING’ -Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan -Choice Party -late 90s February 17, 2010
A couple of ‘Ming’ posters from Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan. They date from the 1997 General Election in Galway West and 1999 European Elections in Connaught-Ulster.
I’ve no idea who won the Frank Fahey look-a-like competition.
Ming The Merciless was campaigning for the legalisation of Cannabis at the time. He now of course is one of the most popular and respected councillors in Roscommon.
More ‘Ming’ Posters are located here.
Thanks to Liam Byrne .
Declan Boland- Independent -Seanad 2002 February 16, 2010
Boston based Declan Boland ‘s leaflet from the 2002 Seanad Election for the University of Dublin. He recieved 98 votes.
His platform included representing the Irish overseas community.
John Kelly -Independent (now Labour)- Roscommon South Leitrim 2007 February 15, 2010
From the 2007 General election, John Kelly running as an Independent in Roscommon-South Leitrim. John Kelly was recently unveiled as a recruit to the Labour Party.
“Imagine an Independent candidate with the balance of power in Your Area” writes Kelly.
Backed by the Hospital Action Committee he polled over 4,500 votes. In the 2009 local elections Valerie Byrne and Paula McNamara both polled over 1000 votes running for the Hospital Action Committee.
There was no Labour candidate in the 2009 local election in Roscommon and one, John Feely in Carrick On Shannon who polled just 285 votes.
It will be interesting to see if Kelly can build on his 2007 vote.

Gerard Dolan – POW (Political Organisation for Work)-1997 Dublin South
From the 1997 General Election in Dublin South Gerard Dolan who recieved 75 votes.
I doubt if POW were a registered party.
Dolan planned to ask voters each month their views on issues that were to come up in the Dail.
It was an idea later used by Ross O’Mullane in the 2009 Dublin South by-election.

Sean O’Grady- Independent- Killarney 1999 February 13, 2010
Former Workers Party candidate Sean O’Grady from the 1999 local elections for Killarney UDC. He was elected.
He is now a member of the Labour Party.
Jim Behan -Independent -Athlone TC 2004
From the 2004 Local Elections, Independent candidate Jim Behan who was running for Athlone Town Council. He failed to be elected.
Peter O’Sullivan – Independent -Dublin South East 2007 February 12, 2010
From the 2007 General election in Dublin South East, Independent candidate Peter O’Sullivan. Despite sharing a name with a famous racing comentator, Peter O’Sullivan received 34 votes.
His policies seem decent enough. Hard to find fault with many of his sentiments such as ‘No sell off of StLukes in Rathgar, Better bus services, DART/LUAS shuttle along the canal …’







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