INDEPENDENT IRELAND HAS some 20 candidates secured to run in the next general election, party leader Michael Collins said today. 

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1′s This Week programme Collins said six or seven of these are women and that they are “talking to a lot more”.

Collins said he believes there will be a general election imminently, despite Taoiseach Simon Harris saying it will not take place until next year. 

He said he is confident the party will be able to meet the gender quota of 40% female candidates but said it was not because of the funding implications. 

The Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012 introduced gender quotas into the Irish electoral system and last year the quota moved from 30% to 40%.

The quota is in place for national elections only and imposes a financial penalty on political parties who do not meet the quota.

“I’d rather have 10 great women and there’s loads of great women out there, than to have 100 great women and maybe 90 not interested. We need good, strong candidates,” Collins said today. 

The Cork South-West TD refused to say how many seats his party is targeting but said that his party “absolutely” wants to be in Government. 

When asked if Independent Ireland is really a party or if it is instead a collective of independents with different agendas, Collins said: 

“We certainly are a collective of Independents.” 

When asked how it can then act as a party, Collins responded: “We can certainly act as one, we’re a registered party to start with”.

He added that the party would implement a whip system on matters relating to a programme for government and the budget but that it would allow free votes “in other situations”. 

Collins was also asked about comments he made in a Hot Press interview earlier this year, in which he proposed the chemical castration of rapists and automatic 25-year sentences for people convicted of three “serious” crimes. 

Collins said the proposal on chemical castration is not an Independent Ireland policy but that automatic 25-year prison sentences is. 

“We have to be strong in relation to crime. We haven’t been strong in relation to crime in this country, and there’s people attacking people in our streets, and they’re getting away,” Collins said. 

“I won’t stand over it and Independent Ireland won’t stand over it,” Collins added.