Becoming a TD

newby.204

Always had an interest in politics, i realise picka party that represents my views etc etc but how do you actually become a TD??

Gambler

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/government-in-ireland/national-government/houses-of-the-oireachtas/work_of_a_TD/?searchterm=Election%20TD

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

jmayo

It really helps if your daddy was a TD.
Then the inheritance act of 1977 comes into force and you inherit the seat.
Failing that an uncle or at least some one with the same family name

Edit: It also helps if you are a teacher or solictor, maybe an accountant at a push.

spadder

an abilty to talk sh1te is always an advantage

Biggins

jmayo wrote: »

It really helps if your daddy was a TD.
Then the inheritance act of 1977 comes into force and you inherit the seat.
Failing that an uncle or at least some one with the same family name

Edit: It also helps if you are a teacher or solictor, maybe an accountant at a push.

So true, its very close to the mark.

Man in my home town was a TD, so his wife became one, then so did his son enter the politics arena, now he's trying for daddy's seat!
Talk about passing the chair around! :rolleyes:

ninty9er

Apart from all that you'll need a hellofalot of friends, supporters and family to go knocking on doors with you. €20k will run a minimalistic but effective campaign. You'll need to be a household annoyance for at least 2 years before the election to perform well.

Húrin

Join FF, go to all the functions, talk a lot of sh!te, make a lot of friends, preferably with businessmen. Nominate yourself for the local elections, do a term as councillor then run for TD.

Melange

Lets see...

Coming from a political family is a major plus. It's preferable but not vital that one of your parents was a TD in that constituency, but county councillor would also do.

You must be prepared to put in some serious work in the political party of your choosing. Get to know everyone active in your constituency and lick arse when necessary. With regard to which political party to join: FF and FG get more votes than the others and are in with a far greater chance of getting a seat in whichever constituency, but competition for the nomination to run for the seat would be fierce in those parties.

Since it'd be unlikely that you'll get the nomination to run in a general election, try for the local council instead. Getting elected to this will require little more than knowing the local issues (hospitals, amenities, potholes etc), and promising to make everything all nice and shiny. A punishing amount of work on the ground will be necessary.

Once ensconced in the council, you can begin preparing for the race to the Dail. If you keep a high profile in the local area and are reasonably competent within the council, you should be in with a decent enough chance to contest the party nomination for the seat in the general election.

If successful, then all you have to do when the GE comes around is to canvass, canvass and then canvass some more. If you're lucky enough, then welcome to Dail Eireann!

This scenario is, of course, predicated on the OP wishing to try to get elected TD as a member of a party. One could always try to run as an independent. This does sometimes work, as long as you have a large enough group of dedicated followers and a unique selling point that'll convince voters that you're worth their first preference.

niceirishfella

The Op ask's about Becoming a TD ?

well, get to know Declan Ganley and his Libertas grouping........future party in dail eireann i think.
I'm looking forward to seeing the prime time show on him Thursday night to see whats what about him.

Melange

niceirishfella wrote: »

The Op ask's about Becoming a TD ?

well, get to know Declan Ganley and his Libertas grouping........future party in dail eireann i think.
I'm looking forward to seeing the prime time show on him Thursday night to see whats what about him.

Libertas? Nah.

They're purely a eurosceptic pressure group with no focus on any political issue other than the Lisbon Treaty. Unless they broaden their political horizons to include domestic issues, and write a political manifesto detailing their stance on those issues, they're unlikely to be able to break into Dail Eireann.

niceirishfella

Melange wrote: »

Libertas? Nah.

They're purely a eurosceptic pressure group with no focus on any political issue other than the Lisbon Treaty. Unless they broaden their political horizons to include domestic issues, and write a political manifesto detailing their stance on those issues, they're unlikely to be able to break into Dail Eireann.

I disagree.
All in good time i'd say. They seem to have an agenda thats broader than just a european one.

Melange

niceirishfella wrote: »

All in good time i'd say. The seems to have an agenda thats broader than just a european one.

Not to my knowledge - I can't remember the last time I heard Libertas make any statements that were not related in some way to Lisbon and the EU.

Anyway, a further impediment to them would be their lack of local organisation. That's something they'd really have to work on if they want to be serious about winning seats.

The_Minister

Melange wrote: »

Not to my knowledge - I can't remember the last time I heard Libertas make any statements that were not related in some way to Lisbon and the EU.

Anyway, a further impediment to them would be their lack of local organisation. That's something they'd really have to work on if they want to be serious about winning seats.

Read Declan Ganley's article at the foreign policy research institute - http://www.fpri.org/ww/0405.200312.ganley.euconstitution.html
In particular

Rather than try to define itself in contradistinction to the United States, this new Europe must be an equal partner and influence for the worldwide extension of justice and liberty. Such a political party— I will for the sake of discussion call it “Libertas”—will need to challenge the engrained composition of the convention in local and regional elections, as well as running candidates at member-state and EU levels. The old structures need shaking up.

Written by him in 2003.

Melange

The_Minister wrote: »

Read Declan Ganley's article at the foreign policy research institute - http://www.fpri.org/ww/0405.200312.ganley.euconstitution.html
In particular


Written by him in 2003.

Interesting. I would like to know, though, how he plans to "shake up the old structures". It's something that they really do need to work on, though this does at least show that he knows its importance.

My point on Libertas and domestic policy does stand. Oh, and they'd need a high-profile defector or two. That was the main reason the PDs made such an impression at the beginning - having the likes of O'Malley, Harney, Molloy and McDowell defect from their respective parties was a near seismic event. I doubt the PDs would have burst onto the Irish political scene they way they did without these individuals - even though there was a clear niche for them at the time.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

The_Minister

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

You're welcome.

There is another article by him on the same site which isn't as explosive (in terms of demolishing the myth that Libertas only exists to fight the Lisbon treaty), but is still worth a gander if you have a spare few minutes.

jmayo

If I wasn't so cynical, it almost appears as if you two guys are looking for excuses to move to a new home
I would say Declan is all for the Free Market and the force of little government/EU interference ?
Throw in ethics, morals in government and you have some good old PD policies.

Mary Harney is also homeless as well you know.
Would there be enough room ...

Melange

jmayo wrote: »

If I wasn't so cynical, it almost appears as if you two guys are looking for excuses to move to a new home
I would say Declan is all for the Free Market and the force of little government/EU interference ?
Throw in ethics, morals in government and you have some good old PD policies.

Mary Harney is also homeless as well you know.
Would there be enough room ...

The PDs were an avowedly Europhilic party. Most PDs wouldn't be comfortable in Libertas due to that huge policy difference.

You also forgot about Social Liberalism, one of the founding principles of the PDs, and one that was very important to many of its members. Libertas shows no clear sign of being a socially liberal organisation.

As for the "Mary Harney is fat" joke; well, that got tired a long time ago.