Independent Fianna Fáil
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Independent Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil Neamhspleách |
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|---|---|
| Leader | Neil Blaney |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Dissolved | 2006 |
| Split from | Fianna Fáil |
| Merged into | Fianna Fáil |
| Ideology | Irish Republicanism |
| European affiliation | European Free Alliance |
| European Parliament group |
Technical Group of Independents (1979–84) Rainbow Group (1989–94) |
Independent Fianna Fáil was a splinter republican party in the Republic of Ireland created by Neil Blaney after his expulsion from Fianna Fáil following the Irish Arms Crisis (1969–1970). The party ceased to exist on 26 July 2006. It was never an officially registered political party: Niall Blaney said in 2003 "I am an Independent and a member of an organisation known locally as Independent Fianna Fáil." Its candidates were listed on ballot papers without a party label, and without the optional "Non-party" label available to independents. However, the Oireachtas members' database lists Independent Fianna Fáil members separately.
The party existed mainly in County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland and, in particular, in Blaney's former constituency of Donegal North-East. Blaney's nephew Niall Blaney was elected as an Independent Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the constituency in 2002, and in the 2004 local elections there were two IFF county councillors — both members of Donegal County Council — and two town councillors, one a member of Letterkenny Town Council and one a member of Buncrana Town Council. Previously IFF had also had representation on Roscommon County Council — where Paddy Lenihan, brother of Mary O'Rourke and uncle of Brian Lenihan, Jnr, defected from Fianna Fáil — and on Leitrim County Council where Larry McGowan also defected, both doing so in 1981. They both retired in 1999, and neither seat was defended on the party's behalf.
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