Technical group

In politics, a technical group is a heterogenous parliamentary group composed of elected officials from political parties of differing ideologies (or independent of any party) who are not numerous enough to form groups on their own. They are formed for technical reasons so that members enjoy rights or benefits that would remain unavailable to them outside a formally recognised parliamentary group.

Ireland

In Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Irish national parliament, the Oireachtas), only parliamentary groups with seven members or more have full speaking rights under standing orders. This means that smaller parties and independent politicians would be unable to speak as often as parties with enough deputies to form their own groups. Prior to 1997, a technical group automatically came into being if there were seven or more independent TDs. Since 1997, a group of TDs must agree to form a group.

Under standing orders, only one technical group may exist at any time, with at least seven members and comprising a majority of deputies who are not members of another group in Dáil Éireann.