Independents' campaign: Independent candidates in the European election staged a protest in Dublin yesterday to complain about what they described as a "complete lack of publicity" in the national media.
Mr Seanán Ó Coistín (23), an independent candidate in the East, said non-party candidates were reliant on the media "to spread their message" because they did not have big campaign teams or money to pay for advertising and other publicity material.
"The independent candidates have not been hiding themselves from the national media; just the national media have paid them very little attention," he said.
Mr Ó Coistín said 47 per cent of the candidates were independents, "but the independents are not receiving 47 per cent of the publicity".
Joining him yesterday were constituency rivals Mr Liam Ó Gógáin and Cllr Clifford T Reid, and Dublin candidate Mr Paul Doonan.