Former Sinn Fein deputy Peadar Tóibín says his new political party, which he has applied to register on both sides of the border, already has eight sitting councillors [1]. This means the fledgling pro-life, republican party already has more councillors than the Social Democrats led by Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall.
No other TD has publicly signed up to Tóibín’s party, although he says he is in discussions with three Oireachtas members. One of them is believed to be Carol Nolan, an Offaly TD who left Sinn Fein last June after defying the party whip on the abortion referendum.
Tóibín, who was elected leader by the new party’s ard comhairle last week, said he expected to have between 50 and 60 candidates in the local elections in both the Republic and Northern Ireland in May.