There was a piece on The Last Word this evening featuring the spokesman for a new pressure group opposed to wind power. It was standard stuff, objecting to the visual impact of the wind turbines, the noise nuisance, questioning the relative value of wind-generated power in the overall scheme of things.

Now I have no opinion on the merits or lack thereof of wind power, but I was waiting for the wearily predictable question from Matt Cooper: "So are you going to run a candidate in the general election?" He didn't actually ask it on this occasion, but he did refer to such a putative candidate who is considering running in Tipperary.

Such has been the success of independent TDs in getting their way from the government of the day, that it is now seen as a completely unremarkable thing to do. Unhappy about the new phone mast that's being built in your locality? Shafted by the party you have served for years? Don't like the way that the hospital 30km away is getting better facilities than your local one? Well, why not run as an independent? And don't forget your shopping list!!

This is a phenomenon that seems to affect Irish politics more than most. Of course, Ireland is a liberal democracy, so anyone is free to seek election to Dáil Éireann if they so wish. Yet, there is something going wrong when there are so many non-aligned members of the Dáil, whose sole purpose is to represent a very narrow, parochial agenda.

Independents, by and large, have a loyal following in their local areas. If they manage to blackmail convince the government to do their bidding, they are seen as champions of the local cause. But this just encourages others, until we get to the point that government cannot form a coherent national policy on anything, because they have so many local deals in place to keep the independents sweet. Now if a coalition combination can get the numbers to form an effective government, then it's not such a big problem. But in the event of a hung Dáil, this is where it gets sticky.

Let's say there is a hung Dáil next time around, a very likely scenario. Whoever forms the government will depend on the support of independents, with whom they will have to do some deals. This will further propagate the notion that independents deliver for local issues, and before we know it, in two or three elections time, more than half of Leinster House is populated with a bunch of jumped-up county councillors and single-issue chancers. Result: chaos.

Please people - don't encourage them. Don't vote for independent candidates.

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