Ireland
After the Irish general election in 2011, there were 16 independent TDs (Members of Parliament) in the Dáil (the lower house of the Irish parliament), representing 10% of the total, excluding the three members of the United Left Alliance are also members of the Dáil Technical Group of Independent TDs. A further 3 TDs became Independent in the Dáil after Tommy Broughan TD and Willie Penrose TD left the Labour Party Parliamentary whip along with Denis Naughten TD who left the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party whip.
There are twelve independent senators in the 24th Seanad (the upper house of the Irish parliament), representing 20% of the total. Three of these are elected by the graduates of the National University of Ireland and two from Dublin University. There are also seven senators who are nominated by the Taoiseach who have also formed an independent technical grouping.
Read more about this topic: Independent (politician)
Famous quotes containing the word ireland:
“Sport and death are the two great socializing factors in Ireland ...”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“Out of Ireland have we come,
Great hatred, little room
Maimed us at the start.
I carry from my mother’s womb
A fanatic’s heart.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The tragedy of Northern Ireland is that it is now a society in which the dead console the living.”
—Jack Holland (b. 1947)