Twenty "independent community rural candidates" are ready to contest the next general election under the auspices of a new party or grouping.
The new party or group - which remains a work in progress and still needs to decide on its name - is being pushed by three Independent rural TDs: Michael Collins (Cork South-West), Mattie McGrath (Tipperary) and Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County).
In recent months, the three TDs have focused on gathering candidates for the local and European elections but claim they have 20 general election candidates to run in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Monaghan and Cavan constituencies.
"I'd be comfortable to think that we'd be able to put forward 20 candidates," Mr Collins told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"We’re looking at Galway, Limerick, quite a lot of the Cork constituencies will have candidates in the next election there."
The Cork South-West TD added that he, Mr McGrath, and Mr O’Donoghue’s immediate focus is on the local and European elections.
One candidate already announced for the general election is former Fianna Fáil Cavan councillor Shane P O’Reilly.
Mr Collins said, while it still needed to be fully decided, the candidates would run as independents under the wording of "Independent Community Rural Candidates".
He added they are still "hoping to form a party of our own".
Mr Collins comments followed recent reports that Independent Galway-Roscommon TD Michael Fitzmaurice is exploring setting up a new political party focused on rural issues.
"There is potential for a new party" or a "new grouping" but that still needs to be decided, Mr Collins added.
"All the best to Michael Fitzmaurice but we in the Rural Independents are one step ahead of him," he said.
"We met with potential candidates, and have been in contact with potential candidates, throughout the country.
"Over the last number of months we’ve launched one of those candidates for the next general election - Shane P O’Reilly - in Cavan Monaghan.
"We will be launching another couple of candidate campaigns over the next number of months.
"There is a huge amount of issues in rural Ireland where roads, public transport is in disarray in many of rural parts, there's fisheries and agriculture, housing and health, but many of those issues are in urban areas also."
'Green agenda'
'Ireland Thinks' pollster and Technical University politics lecturer Kevin Cunningham told Morning Ireland there is a gap in the Irish political system for another party.
"There’s significant opposition to what is often termed as the 'green agenda'," Mr Cunningham said.
"That’s reflected in attitudes towards the Green Party in regular polling.
"We can see that there is significant room for a more conservative party in general. It’s that particular gap that such a party could plug.
"Our independent candidates vote comes from the fact that these people are not party candidates, and that is certainly something they would lose by grouping together in in terms of a party."
While there is a gap that needs to be filled the challenge may be getting agreement among politicians themselves.
The big concern for many existing rural and regional independents is political autonomy. Losing that to join a party is a step too far.
"One of the big questions to be asking is if Michael Fitzmaurice is talking about having a party and a party whip, that is something that people who are independents at the moment might not fully want to be involved in - where they don't have their own discretion to make their own decisions," Galway East TD Seán Canney told Morning Ireland.
Nenagh Mart
Voters in Tipperary had mixed opinions about the establishment of a new rural party.
Farmers at Nenagh Mart welcomed the idea.
Local auctioneer Brendan O’Connor said there is no need for a rural party because many TDs in the Dáil are from rural constituencies.
However local women in the town said a rural party is needed.
"The rural people aren't being heard. I think there's a need for representatives rurally," said one woman.
The feeling of communities left behind was a key factor for recent electoral success of farmer-citizen movement BBB in Holland.
The Dutch party took 19% of votes in regional elections last month, which enabled them to take 15 seats in the senate - Holland’s upper house.
"There's a general feeling in the countryside, in the rural areas, that that they are left alone, that the government in The Hague doesn't care about what they need," Petra DeKoning, a political reporter with the Dutch daily newspaper NRC, told Morning Ireland.
"They see how bus lines disappear, how shops are gone, banks."
Political editor with the Irish Examiner Elaine Loughlin said similar issues here could have an impact.
"There is votes to be gained there for a party or even a group, or perhaps even an independent who directly speaks to that cohort of voters," she said.
