Irish democratic party to a hold public meeting this evening

The Irish Democratic Party(IDP) is due to hold a public meeting in Birr today.

It's one of a number of meetings the party is holding ahead of the general election.

Established in late 2013 and registered in Leinster House in April 2014, the IDP claims to be the first political party founded in Co Offaly and has almost 200 members in the county.

Led by chairman Ken Smollen, a retired Garda from Tullamore, the party now has over 1,000 signed up members in 24 of the Republic's 26 counties.

“One of the things that makes the IDP unique in Irish politics is the fact that we don’t have any former politicians on board. All of our members are ordinary people from every walk of life who have experienced the harshness and reality of life under two successively uncaring Governments and know what it’s like for families and small medium businesses in their daily struggle to survive,” said Mr Smollen.

Another unique factor is that the IDP advocates a complete change in the system of governance that has been used in Ireland since the foundation of the state. It’s time that we replaced the very corruptible and outdated system of Representative Democracy where politicians, once elected are not accountable for their actions until they seek the public’s votes at the next election, Mr Smollen explained.

He said “the system of democracy that we advocate is Participatory Democracy where the people have the final say in decisions that affect their daily lives.  This will completely eradicate the undemocratic Whip system and will allow elected representatives in different constituencies to vote in opposite ways depending on the wishes of their own electorate.”

“Failure to adhere to their electorate’s wishes will lead to an elected representative being recalled and sacked and introduces a level of accountability and transparency never before experienced in Ireland.  More information can be found in our website www.IrishDemocraticParty.ie,” said Mr Smollen.

The IDP are holding public meetings in locations across the country in order to build their membership in advance of the upcoming general election.  

The first of the public meetings will be held in Dooly’s Hotel, Birr on Tuesday, March 31 at 7.30pm. It will be followed by a meeting in the Bridge House Hotel, Tullamore on Tuesday, April 14 and in Edenderry two weeks later.