Independent Ireland had such high hopes for their candidate in the Galway West byelection.Noel Thomas narrowly missed winning a seat in the General Election. And at the weekend, he just missed out again. But his party leader is bearing up well under the disappointment. When the Dáil returned on Tuesday, a very wound-up Michael Collins managed not to burst out crying on the plinth while blaming the four parties for ganging up on his candidate, doing him and Indignation Ireland out of vital transfers and a seat. Michael wasn’t just unhappy. This has been a crutching blow. And he was clearly crutched. In the course of a deeply poignant one-man comic performance, the TD for Cork South West blamed his candidate’s suspicious demise on three pairs of crutches and Fine Gael.He gravely intoned: “There was pacts done”. Michael’s distress was the highlight of a day when one brand new TD and one slightly dog-eared repeat TD arrived at Leinster House in triumph to take their seats after the weekend’s byelection double header. Daniel Ennis, who topped the poll in Dublin Central, had the Social Democrats in rhapsodies. Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne, who didn’t top the poll in Galway but had the temerity to topple Indignation Ireland’s frontrunner on transfers, had a similar effect on his Fine Gael colleagues. Seán, a former TD, was Leader of the Seanad before he booked his latest billet on the Blueshirt benches. He didn’t seem particularly elated by his elevation to the Lower House. Been there, done that.But his parliamentary party celebrated outside like they had just clinched an overall majority, as opposed to scraping through on transfers from two parties whose supporters viewed him as the lesser of two political evils.“We are not toxic,” sniffed Michael Collins, when asked if left-leaning voters were incapable of supporting a member of his party. Daniel, a former League of Ireland footballer among other things, was walked through the gates by his parliamentary party colleagues after a quick interview on the pavement outside. He was joined by his family for the occasion. Did he know he was part of a party which provided a “crutch” for Seán Kyne to disgracefully relieve Noel Thomas of the byelection lead, in cahoots with Labour?“We are not a crutch,” Michael Collins stoically declared during his routine on the plinth.He bravely tried to take his mind off the stitch-up in Galway by kicking off with happy news and thoughts of what might have been. Deputy Collins arrived with a sheet of figures to highlight how “astonishingly well” Independent Ireland did in the contest, doubling its number of first preferences from the general election and pulling in more votes on one constituency than the other parties managed to get in two. Bar Fine Gael, which was operating pacts and forcing the others to act as crutches for Simon Harris.Michael needed to comment on Fianna Fáil’s abysmal performance in Dublin.“Fianna Fáil are now a crutch for Fine Gael. That’s what they are, a crutch for Fine Gael – and in disarray in Dublin … gave 2½ thousand transfers to Fine Gael and they have now become a major crutch for Fine Gael, going forward”.Going forward, which is what crutches are meant to be for. “But also, we have to question the Social Democrats and Labour,” he added, pointing out that a huge amount of Labour transfers went to Fine Gael. But in the Dáil they say the country needs a change and to vote Left. “Social Democrats – the same, they didn’t transfer to anybody else other than Fine Gael.” Their talk in the Dáil about “keep it Left is only pure and utter bunkum and nonsense”. Was the leader of Independent Ireland indignant because these parties, for some strange reason, didn’t accord them honorary left-wing status on polling day?Was the byelection result not just democracy in action?“That’s democracy, we live in democracy, I accept that. But…” Oh, Michael was taking defeat very well.He didn’t think much of “this carry on of: we all vote left, and we all stay left”.He didn’t see that happen at the counts he stood over. No left transfers to Noel Thomas.“I know, I watched every paper that came out, ‘twas absolutely thrown into the bin by Labour and the Social Democrats.” Indignation Ireland number-one friendly and also transfer friendly, he stressed. But lookit. “Rome wasn’t built in the day. We’re only there two years. Some of these parties are there hundreds of years.” But there have been nefarious goings on.“In my view there was pacts done and the Labour Party and the Soc Dems need to come out and…”He never did say. Indignation Ireland got loads of transfers but the crutches and the deals did them down in the end. “Somebody else might do better at those deals. We didn’t, we couldn’t do a deal with Fianna Fáil. We’re not in government with Fianna Fáil. We’re not a crutch for Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil are a crutch for Fine Gael now, that is proven, and they collapsed completely.”Such a touching story. FF collapsed completely yet still selflessly gave FG their crutch.It was never going to work out for Indignation Ireland because of “the bottom line” pact between the two main parties - “there’s nothing we could do about that”. And questions need to be asked of Labour and the Soc Dems and why they instructed their supporters to give FG their number twos. Deputy Collins was beginning to sound like Fr Ted giving his Golden Cleric award speech. It was only a matter of time before he would snarl “and another thing”.Might it be, ventured a journalist, because they didn’t want to vote for his candidate?Might it be, pointed out another, that his candidate initially came to prominence when he made anti-immigration comments and that Labour supporters might not feel inclined to vote for him as their candidate, Helen Ogbu, is a migrant?Another explained that the election was won on final transfers in a two-horse race and not on second-preference votes. “Well, it’s transfers, transfers, yes,” huffed Michael, but they got loads of them during the rest of the count. As to the Labour Party, the leader of Indignation Ireland said he didn’t think immigration had anything to do with the vote. “We have to ask Labour as to why they transferred that 3½ thousand to that Fine Gael candidate.”Does he really believe that Labour told their supporters to vote for Fine Gael?Michael didn’t know what to think.“Well, I wouldn’t, well I just can’t understand how it happened - out of the blue, I mean … It’s obvious, it’s obvious …” he forlornly spluttered. “Two and a half ... It’s obvious that Fianna Fáil carried Fine Gael with two and a half thousand ... they transferred over ...”Who knows?“But look. I can only stand over what we see and what I saw was a massive transfer from Labour to Fine Gael” and after all they said they “do everything in their power” to make sure FG get in. “They became a crutch for them.”Deputy Collins was not the only one unhappy with Labour transfers electing Seán Kyne. Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín also referred to it when taking to the media. Later, Labour’s George Lawlor said Peadar’s intervention was obviously a “deflection” from his own party’s “disastrous” showing. “Our voting system is the best voting system that you can buy ... for want of a better description,” he said. “You might rephrase that,” said party leader Ivana Bacik. So he said the Irish voting system is the best in the world. We must be proud of it and we must educate people about it.He sighed. “But if we have to do it to party leaders . . .”