Libertas Ireland

Libertas Ireland was a political party in Ireland. It contended the 2009 European Parliament elections in Ireland under a common banner with Declan Ganley's Libertas.eu. It shared a headquarters with Libertas.eu[nb 1][4][5] but was a national party in its own right[1] for the purposes of Irish electoral law.

For the pan-European party, see Libertas.eu. For the 2008 referendum lobby group, see Libertas Institute (Ireland).

Libertas Ireland
LeaderDeclan Ganley
Founded29 April 2009 (2009-04-29)[1]
Dissolved13 November 2009 (2009-11-13)[2]
HeadquartersMoyne Park, Tuam,
County Galway[1]
IdeologyAnti-Lisbon Treaty
Social conservatism
Economic liberalism
Euroscepticism
Political positionRight-wing[3]
European affiliationLibertas.eu
ColoursBlue, gold
Website
www.libertas.eu/ireland/

Formation
See also: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2008 (Ireland) and Libertas Institute (Ireland)

Rumours that Libertas would become a political party began as soon as the Lisbon I referendum rejected the Treaty of Lisbon,[6] and attention eventually moved to whether Libertas would run candidates in Ireland.[7] On 14 March 2009, Ganley held a press conference and announced that it would.[8] Libertas Ireland, (the Libertas national party in Ireland and a party in its own right) was founded on 29 April 2009,[1] some months after the pan-European party was founded in 2008.

Personnel
Name Position
John McGuirk[1][nb 2] Authenticating Officer[1][nb 2]
Sean Ganley[1][nb 2] Authenticating Officer[1][nb 2]
Norrie Keane[1][nb 2] Authenticating Officer[1][nb 2]
Eilis Mulroy[1][nb 2] Authenticating Officer[1][nb 2]

2009 European Parliament elections
See also: European Parliament election, 2009 (Ireland)

Candidates
Main article: List of Libertas list candidates at the 2009 European Parliament elections

Libertas fielded candidates in three European Parliament constituencies in Ireland. It did not intend to field a candidate in South because Libertas had close ties[8] with Kathy Sinnott (IND/EUD/IND-DEM), an MEP for that constituency.

Name Constituency Notes
Declan Ganley[8] North-West[8]
Caroline Simons[8] Dublin[8] Worked with Libertas in its campaign against the Treaty of Lisbon and was legal adviser to the Pro-Life Campaign.[9][10]
Raymond O'Malley[8] East[8] Former deputy president of the Irish Farmers' Association.[11]

Campaign

At the launch of his party's 2009 European Parliament campaign, Declan Ganley encouraged voters to vote for Libertas as a protest against existing parties, said that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were part of a political cartel and that opinion polls that put his party at 2 per cent in the polls disagreed with Libertas own polling.[11] Ganley said that he would step down as party leader if he failed to be elected in the North–West constituency.[11]

Simons criticised Proinsias De Rossa at the launch of the EU parliament campaign, saying that he had been in the parliament for fifteen years and would be seventy next year, but she denied she was discriminating against older people.[11]

O'Malley said that Ireland should close its borders to workers from other EU countries while appearing on The Last Word on Today FM.[12]

Results
See also: Libertas.eu

Ganley was not elected; he called for a recount in his constituency and, as a result, his official number of first preferences was reduced by 3,000 from 70,638 when it was discovered that some votes for Fiachra O'Luain has been mistakenly bundled with his.[13] Neither Caroline Simons nor Raymond O'Malley were elected either.[14][15] Kathy Sinnott also lost her seat.

European Parliament
Election year # of total votes  % of overall vote # of seats won Rank
2009 99,709 Increase 5.4% Increase
0 / 12
 6 Increase

Dissolution

In November 2009, the party was removed from the Register of Political Parties in Ireland.[2] In June 2010, Ganley applied to the Companies Registration Office (CRO) to have the Libertas Party and the Libertas Foundation to be struck off voluntarily. The group had filed no accounts.[16] As of 2010, the Libertas Institute remained active as a think-tank.[17][18]

See also

Notes
  1. The CRO Archived 29 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine entry for the Libertas Party was:
    • Type: Company,
    • Number: 463758
    • Name: The Libertas Party Limited,
    • Address: Moyne Park, Tuam, County Galway, Ireland
    • Registered: 30 October 2008
  2. The Register of Political Parties did not indicate who the leader of Libertas was: it stated who the party officers authorised to certify candidates were, and those party officers were John McGuirk, Sean Ganley, Norrie Keane and Eilis Mulroy

References
  1. "Clár na bPáirtithe Polaitíochta/Register of Political Parties, version of 29 April 2009" Archived 23 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine, 29 April 2009, from http://www.oireachtas.ie Archived 14 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Government of Ireland (13 November 2009). Iris Oifigiúil (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  3. Richard Dunphy (2015). "Ireland". In Donatella M. Viola (ed.). Routledge Handbook of European Elections. Routledge. p. 247. ISBN 978-1-317-50363-7. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  4. "Entry for the Libertas Party Limited" Archived 23 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine, at www.solocheck.ie Archived 11 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Entry for the Libertas Party Limited" Archived 2009-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, at www.ukdata.com Archived 2009-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Ganley plans to fight on in European elections", Sunday Times, June 22, 2008
  7. "Domestic discord vs European impatience at Lisbon" Archived 13 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Irish Times, 13 December 2008
  8. "Ganley launches European election bid" Archived 2009-03-17 at the Wayback Machine, 15 March 2009
  9. Pro-Life Campaign to question parties on abortion stances Archived 14 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine<Patsy McGarry, The Irish Times, 15 May 2009
  10. Solicitor lines out for Libertas in Euro battle Archived 23 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Michael Brennan, Irish Independent, 20 April 2009, retrieved 15 May 2009
  11. Ganley urges electorate to back party in protest at political establishment Archived 14 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Mark Hennessy, The Irish Times, 11 May 2009, retrieved 15 May 2009
  12. East candidate seeks block on immigrants Archived 23 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Brian Kavanagh, The Irish Times, 15 May 2009
  13. Harkin tops North West poll Archived 15 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Mary Minihan, The Irish Times, 9 June 2009.
  14. Higgins on verge of surprise victory in knife-edge battle for final seat Archived 15 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Harry McGee and Michael O'Regan, The Irish Times, 8 June 2009, retrieved 9 June 2009
  15. Childers, Alyward elected in East Archived 15 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Irish Times, 8 June 2009, retrieved 9 June 2009
  16. "In Short". The Irish Times. 9 September 2010. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  17. "Ganley applies to have Libertas wound up". The Irish Times. 3 June 2010. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
  18. "Ganley seeking to wind up Libertas". RTÉ News. 2 June 2010. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
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