Kerry’s grassroots political party: The past, present and future of the Kerry Independent Alliance
The Kerryman“Dáil Éireann can be a very artificial place, with its own distinctive culture outside of the chamber – sometimes a culture based on insincerity and flattery.”
For former minister and Fine Gael TD for Kerry North, Jimmy Deenihan, Leinster House could, at times, prioritise political manoeuvring over the needs of the man in the street. The Dublin bubble could eclipse the cacophony of voices streaming in from other parts of the Isle.
A rejection of this quagmire certainly played a role birthing the Kerry Independent Alliance but as the party’s Councillor John O’Donoghue puts it, “we stand on our own two feet”.
Cllr O’Donoghue is the second-generation candidate of Kerry’s unique grassroots party, which started its political life in 1994, with local sporting hero and seasoned councillor Michael Gleeson at its head.
While ambition was never too far from the elaborate thread of Michael’s life, willingly or not, he never left his local roots in Gaelic culture behind. A decorated footballer in bloom of his youth, Michael played in two of Kerry’s All-Ireland titles in 1969 and 1970 and captaining East Kerry in an All-Ireland Club Final.
“My one huge ambition as a child was to wear the green and gold of the kingdom,” said Michael.
“Gaelic Football is a very large part of the life of so many people. Even a mediocre player, which I’d say I was, one becomes reasonably well known…one makes very good friends across all political divides and none.”
The modest GAA star mobilised these connections in his first election campaign, winning a seat in Kerry County Council in 1983. Mickael’s shift into politics was driven by local papers such as the Kerryman, which he read from a very young age, his political studies at UCD and the “salt of the earth” Labour leader Frank Cluskey, who proved a defining figure in his evolving political thought.
It was his admiration of this Dublin TD that has coaxed him into running as a labour candidate in the county elections and set him on a collision course with South Kerry’s best known Labour family – the Moynihans.
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The Kerry Independent Alliance (KIA) started life as the South Kerry Independent Alliance (SKIA) in 1994, an exodus of Kerry’s Labour party apparatus following this controversial clash with Breeda Moynihan-Cronin in the 1992 general election. The tale of Mick’s selection and subsequent de-selection by the party during the election run-up is well remembered, not least in part to anomalous wavering of seasoned political party.
Many feigned bewilderment when the daughter sitting TD of Kerry South at the time, Michael Moynihan, was endorsed to fill the newly created hole in the party’s local leadership.
“I would have expected the labour party to adhere to higher standards because it was very much central to the way they were talking to the world in the Dáil and elsewhere,” said Michael.
“One can’t surely have proper standards unless one adheres to democratic decisions of election conventions.
“There’s a very strong sense in Irish politics of ‘hand me down politics’ and that was certainly part of the parcel that was decisive.”
It was not just Michael that was disappointed.
Disenchanted Labour apparatchiks began to meet in the aftermath, including the former chairperson of the constituency council and director of elections. A constitution was established, all mindful of the danger of appearing as a “rump of the labour party”, and Michael was selected as the candidate to represent their new machinery – South Kerry Independent Alliance.
“Very importantly we were never seen as a dissident group,” said Michael.
“We were never associated with any other party from the day we established ourselves. We were recognised and acknowledged for being an entity of our own.
“Never once was it said to me that we were this or that party previously. Never once.”
It was under the SKIA, Michael took on the 1997 General Election with the intention of establishing his and the party’s name. While this attempt yielded only 3.9 per cent of first preference votes, the “very serious” affair of his 2011 run placed him fifth in the three-seat South Kerry race, with an impressive 5,000 first choice votes.
“You’ve no idea how proud I was of the people who were going to the doors to represent us,” said Michael.
“The calibre and character that they had, you’d be proud to bring them home to one’s mother as they say – and while some of them are gone, that still prevails.”
The matured party now boasts over 60 members at its AGM, with Michael’s KIA council seat having been co-opted by his nephew John O’Donoghue in 2021. As a party that prides itself on its transparency and democratic internal processes, Michael is quick to point out the coincidence.
“I’m acutely aware that nepotism can’t be seen to be part of this,” he said.
Indeed, when the party requested all candidate hopefuls to write to their secretary to express their interest, only one letter was received, he said; anyone can stand in KIA, with any contest being decided by a member vote.
The now-Councillor O’Donoghue carries this ethos forward, emphasising his unwavering commitment to the democratic process.
“I could sleep soundly if I lost,” said Cllr O’Donoghue, “if the AGM elected someone else, I’d go door knocking.”
“I would imagine we’re more transparent than most, but that’s not for me to say. Everyone will have their own opinion.”
With no national party allegiance, KIA’s sense of self is rooted deeply in the Killarney fold. The lack of such a political layer, seems to strip the party back to a more pragmatic vehicle for local change.
Both uncle and nephew champion consensus politics as the most effective strategy for engendering public good. Though a schism with Labour may have been the nature of KIA’s origins, it doesn’t define their conduct, and former Labour colleagues have remained respected by the Alliance’s multi-generational membership.
“I would never see myself, as a politician, just as someone who was anti any other kind of party,” said Cllr O’Donoghue, “we stand on our own two feet.”
“Voters are not sending me in to spend my time fighting and being obstructionist, they’re sending councillors in to get stuff done.”
“We can pull against each other and have a tug of war, or we can all pull in the same direction, and I think there is an onus on us that you can’t get into the showboating that sometimes goes on in politics. I think there’s an onus on me and on all elected members to find common ground and work together.”
“Politicians, for the enhancement of their given area, do best when they cooperate with the other elected people,” Mr Gleeson added.
While the future frames ambition for many in politics, KIA isn’t engrossed by discussions of growth or dominance. Albeit cautious not to throw their hard-won into jeopardy by standing multiple candidates, they would welcome prospective candidates in areas outside Killarney Municipal District.
For both generations of Alliance representatives, the preservation of the party’s ethics is non-negotiable and must always come first. An open mind is kept open, and limitations are never set.
“The future is wide open,” said Mr Gleeson, “and I think it’s very important that our present representative or future representative would always ensure that there’s no attempt at self-aggrandisement or enriching themselves, but their working for the greater good of the community would be always at the forefront.”
“The day that that disappears, the decent politics disappears. That has to be at the very heart of what we do.”
“I hope that we will always be seen as decent, caring and committed, because that’s what I think politics should be about and that’s what public representatives should be about. I hope the vast majority are that way because that’s what a country deserves. I hope we have those standards always.”