INDEPENDENT TD Lucinda Creighton is hoping to secure €1million in small donations from supporters across Ireland to fund a new political party she plans to launch in the spring.
The former Fine Gael politician, who was expelled from the party in 2013 after defying the party whip by voting against the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, announced on January 2 that her party would “give politics back to the people”.
This week the representative for the Dublin Bay South constituency estimated that she will need to raise €1 million to fund the party before the next general election, which she hopes will come via small public donations.
She made the claims while preparing to embark on a national promotional tour this month, adding: “We will need to raise a substantial sum of money, it’ll certainly have to be close to a million euro over the next year in the run-up to the general election.”
The TD, whose new party is as yet unnamed, claims she will have candidates running in every Irish constituency in time for the 2016 general election.
While confirming she has 100 volunteers, including actuaries, barristers and people working in the community sector, already working for the party, Creighton appealed for others to get involved.
