Maxwell agrees to join Independent Ireland Party ahead of local elections

AN INDEPENDENT candidate in the Westport Electoral Area has confirmed that he will be running as a member of the Independent Ireland party in the local elections.

Louisburgh-based candidate Chris Maxwell confirmed that he has joined the Independent Ireland party fronted by Roscommon TD Michael Fitzmauice and will be an official Independent Ireland candidate in Local Elections on June 7. Mr Maxwell is looking to win a seat in the Westport Electoral Area.

Mr Maxwell ran as a Fianna Fáil candidate in the 2019 local elections but entered this campaign as an Independent last December after claiming the main political parties had forgotten about rural Ireland.

The Louisburgh-based agricultural contractor told The Mayo News that he knew Deputy Fitzmaurice for many years through business and had been approached by him to join the Independent Ireland party.

“I know Michael for years and he was onto me a while back if I would be interested. We discussed this for the last six weeks and I had chewed about it and I decided last weekend that we have to go with this. They are in my line of thinking and for rural Ireland and that is what we are all about.

“I felt the main parties have led down rural Ireland and when I say rural Ireland I mean anywhere outside the pale and that includes the towns. Fitzmaurice's outlook is pretty much the same, which is common sense, hard work, spending the money wisely and getting on with the job. That is why he was interested in me and I decided why not,” he told The Mayo News on Monday.

Independent Ireland was formed on November 8, 2023 by former Independent TDs, Michael Collins from Cork and Richard O'Donoghue from Limerick and Michael Fitzmaurice became the party's third TD in February 2024.

Three candidates

MR Maxwell will join Donal Geraghty and Mark Devane who are Independent Ireland candidates in Castlebar and Claremorris respectively in a bid to be elected to Mayo County Council. He believes that the recent opinion polls suggest the party will win seats in the local election and will be in a strong position to influence the next government.

“I feel they will have very strong representations in the next government as well as the county councils with the feedback they are getting and there will be strength in numbers with them. If they do get into government they will be in tune with rural Ireland,” he said.

He added that despite joining a political party, he will remain Independent as the party does not operate a whip system and he will not be bound by the party whip.

Mr Maxwell said the decision to withdraw funding for the upgrade of the N59 Newport to Derrada road shows how out of touch the government is for rural Ireland.

“It is a disgrace. I believe government parties have forgotten about us and its time we take a stand and take back control of our country. The politicians have lost touch with the grassroots and that is evident with today's announcement,” he said.

As a result of the announcement he said that Michael Fitzmaurice will hold a public meeting in Hotel Newport this Saturday night, May 25 at 8.30pm to meet the people and discuss what is affecting people in the area.