I can’t put into words how disappointed I’m about the choice of name for this new party.
Named, without engaging followers
I have attended two very early meetings of Reboot Ireland and was impressed of how they were planning to engage followers and do politics together with their members.
I had some interesting conversations with Eddie Hobbs. I met and talked to Lucinda Creighton and I have known for a while, Liam McCabe. It all sounded great. Emails were flying left right and centre. Everything was great, but there was never any engagement in trying to establish a name for the party.
So, why on earth this name?
No name of continuity
Reboot Ireland was bad enough. The name “Reboot Ireland” was okay, because it was meant to be a temporary thing.
I was afraid that they might come up with another temporary name for a party, but then I thought “surely not. They’re intelligent people and look at the bigger picture.” I was wrong.
Psychologically, the name is not going to tie people to the party. Quite simply because it stands for a temporary measure to renew Ireland, or to lead Ireland through a renewal phase.
I do believe that people are looking for more foresight and ambition which is looking further into the future.
There’s still time to change the name
What I am disappointed about is, that there were loads of emails sent to people like me and other interested people about all kind of stuff and upcoming meetings. Never once was there an email sent to us to ask for an idea for a name. This alone is not good enough. This party had a chance to start from the beginning by engaging the base, instead it opted to decide on one of the most important things, behind closed doors.
New era of politics
However, I do believe that this new party will rock the political scene of Ireland. I do believe that soon, we will enter an era of a new way of how we do politics.
The established political parties of Ireland will have to change how they engage with the electorate.
