Moate man resigns from Irish Freedom Party

Moate's Shane Lynam, who stood as a candidate for the Irish Freedom Party in last year's local elections in Westmeath, has resigned from the party.

Mr Lynam, who has his own health and safety business and is the PRO of the Moate Town Team, said he was now working on setting up a political debating club called Slí Nua.

He was chairman and election agent of the Irish Freedom Party during last year's general election, but said he made the decision to step away from the party earlier this year.

"I gave my notice back in March, but there were some administrative items to resolve before I could leave," he said.

"I have set in motion the groundwork for the establishment of a political debating club called Slí Nua. This requires, in the interest of fairness, the administration committee to be non-party affiliated.

"My brief experience with politics so far has shown me that people will treat you in a certain way because of your party affiliation, and make presumptions about your personal stance on a topic because of something another party member has said online, even if it is not party policy.

"For example, neither I nor the Irish Freedom Party are 'anti-immigration' but this has become the dominating narrative in some corners of social media. This makes it difficult to hold constructive debates on this and other important topics."

He said the Slí Nua debating club he is planning would give an opportunity "for people with little or no experience in politics to get involved in what will be a mutually respectful environment, so they can discuss and debate ideas."

In his first time standing as a local election candidate last June, Mr Lynam received 270 first preferences and was eliminated on the second count in the Moate electoral area.

He pointed out that at those local elections the turnout at polling stations in Westmeath's four local electoral areas was between 45% and 56%, saying this showed "there is a huge cohort of people who simply have no interest in politics or exercising their democratic right" to vote.

"Politics in Ireland is largely reserved, through various mechanisms, for people who have a family connection to a party or an elected representative, or get involved in student or workers' unions.

"For most, the political world is a strange and intimidating place where there is little outlet in the real world for discussion, and the online space tends to be dominated by trolls and keyboard warriors.

"Slí Nua will give people, regardless of age, personal connections, social status or educational background a chance to get involved in the debate. It will encourage critical thinking and development of solutions."

He said the debating club would be accepting membership applications from people over the age of 18, "whatever their personal political beliefs might be" from November, with a view to holding its first series of debates next January.

The contact email for enquiries is: info@sli-nua.com