An Chomhdháil Phobail I The People’s Convention (CPPC) is the organisation of the entire electorate, on a Constituency and Local Electoral Area basis.
The guiding principle of CPPC is that sovereignty rests with the people and that all affairs of state must be subject to decision by the people, without restriction.
CPPC is a movement, not a Political Party, and calls on people to unite to assert our collective right to decide the policy of our state. We see that this can only be achieved through the empowerment of the people, we must directly control our representatives and the entire political process.
We call on all to unite based on our common interests as Irish people, equal stakeholders in the future of our country – regardless of social class, creed, ideology, ‘ism‘ (left or right), policy preference or Party allegiance (if any).
Everything the we need to empower ourselves is already in place, in Bunreacht na hÉireann. Our Bunreacht highlights that it is the right of the people to determine state policy and it also sets out the rules for our representation. Article 16.2.1 states:
“Dáil Éireann shall be composed of members who represent constituencies determined by law.”
There is no provision made in our Bunreacht for the representation of Political Parties (which are effectively Private Member Clubs) or for the representation of individuals (as ‘independents’). It states that TD’s should “represent constituencies” – we currently do not get this, but that is exactly what we need!
If we SELECT our own candidates before elections, ELECT them contracted to vote only on specific MANDATE and to be subject to CHECKUP and RECALL (i.e. to unelect) then the citizens will be empowered.
If we, as citizens, change the way we behave – by not handing our mandate over to any Party or individual – then we can control the entire political process.
We can have Local Authorities and an Oireachtas with NO opposition, just assemblies of the people’s representatives all acting on mandate from their own communities.
Each constituency convention is independent, in that there is no central policy to follow, other than adherence to the principles of democracy.
A more complete explanation of the idea of The Peoples Convention are set out in the 2011 pamphlet “IRISH CITIZENS, WE MUST EMPOWER OURSELVES!”
We have prepared a draft Constitution for CPPC to assist people to understand how this new way will work.
