Independent politicians, who contest elections without the support of one of the political parties, have played a continuous role in the politics of Ireland since independence in 1922.

Provision for independents in electoral law

If a candidate is not the candidate of a registered political party, they may be nominated for elections to Dáil Éireann with the assent of 30 electors in the

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

, for elections to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

with the assent of 60 electors in the constituency, and for local elections with the assent of 15 electors in the local electoral area. They may choose to have the designation non-party next to their name on the ballot paper. In Seanad elections and

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

, candidates are not nominated by parties directly, and party labels do not appear on the ballot.

Independents supporting governments

In the case of

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in t ...

s, where the party or parties forming the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

do not have a majority in the Dáil, they will usually be dependent on independent TDs in votes of confidence. This can be by In the Inter-Party Government led by

John A. Costello John Aloysius Costello (20 June 1891 – 5 January 1976) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957, Leader of the Opposition from 1951 to 1954 and from 1957 to 1959, and Attorney General ...

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the of ...

, James Dillon served as

Minister for Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

. He was an independent TD, having left

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil É ...

in 1942 because he disagreed with the policy of neutrality during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. He rejoined Fine Gael in 1953 and became leader in 1959. In 2009, Mary Harney continued as Minister for Health as an independent member of the government after the dissolution of the Progressive Democrats, and served until 2011. After the 2016 general election, 3 independent TDs were appointed to a minority Fine Gael–Independent government on 6 May 2016:

Denis Naughten Denis Naughten (born 23 June 1973) is an Irish Independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Roscommon–Galway constituency since 2016, and previously from 2007 to 2016 for the Roscommon–South Leitrim constituency and fro ...

as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Shane Ross as

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport The Minister for Transport ( ga, An tAire Iompair) is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the Department of Transport. The current Minister for Transport is Eamon Ryan, TD. He is also Minister for the Environment, Clima ...

, and

Katherine Zappone Katherine Zappone (; born 25 November 1953) is an American-Irish independent politician who served as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs from May 2016 to June 2020. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-West constituency fro ...

as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Ross is a member of the Independent Alliance, and other members of the Independent Alliance were appointed as Ministers of State. Naughten resigned as minister on 11 October 2018. Ross and Zappone served until the appointment of a new government on 27 June 2020.

Local government

At the 2019 local elections, independents won 185 of the 949 seats on city and county councils.

European Parliament

Luke 'Ming' Flanagan Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (born 22 January 1972) is an Irish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Midlands–North-West constituency since 2014. He is an Independent, but sits in parliament with The ...

has been an MEP for Midlands–North-West since

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

President of Ireland

The current

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...

Michael D. Higgins was elected in 2011 having been nominated by Labour Party members of the Oireachtas, but re-elected in 2018 on his own nomination.

Election results

General elections

Key for government column: