INDEPENDENT IRELAND HAS faced booming membership interest, including from government party supporters, in the past week following the fuel crisis protests according to the party leader Michael Collins.

The party is holding its annual conference in Galway this weekend, fresh off a week that saw it boosted by the success of the fuel protests.

Collins told reporters yesterday that they have had councillors from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael contact them, but he said the party is “primarily” getting contacted by councillors in Fianna Fáil.

Expanding on it today on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Collins said there is “dissatisfaction” from those parties’ members.

He said that not all of the discussions they have with councillors will be successful but added that where they bear fruit, “We will be announcing candidates I would expect in the very near future.”

Speaking to reporters during the party conference in Galway yesterday, Collins said that the party has seen a “huge increase” in interest, to the point that it nearly crashed their website this week.

Its candidate in next month’s Galway West by-election is councillor Noel Thomas who defected from Fianna Fáil to join the party.

He estimated that there has been around a “40% increase” in membership applications.