Libertas Ireland was a minor, Eurosceptic 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.euThe CRO 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"Entry for the Libertas Party Limited" , at www.solocheck.ie "Entry for the Libertas Party Limited" , at www.ukdata.com but was a national party in its own right for the purposes of Irish electoral law.

Formation

Rumours that Libertas would become a political party began as soon as the Lisbon I referendum rejected the Treaty of Lisbon,"Ganley plans to fight on in European elections", Sunday Times, June 22, 2008 and attention eventually moved to whether Libertas would run candidates in Ireland."Domestic discord vs European impatience at Lisbon" , Irish Times, 13 December 2008 On 14 March 2009, Ganley held a press conference and announced that it would."Ganley launches European election bid" , 15 March 2009 Libertas Ireland, (the Libertas national party in Ireland and a party in its own right) was founded on 29 April 2009, some months after the European political party was founded in 2008.

Personnel NamePositionJohn McGuirkThe 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 MulroyAuthenticating OfficerSean GanleyAuthenticating OfficerNorrie KeaneAuthenticating OfficerEilis MulroyAuthenticating Officer

2009 European Parliament elections

Candidates

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 with Kathy Sinnott (IND/EUD/IND-DEM), an MEP for that constituency.

NameConstituencyNotesDeclan GanleyNorth-WestCaroline SimonsDublinWorked with Libertas in its campaign against the Treaty of Lisbon and was legal adviser to the Pro-Life Campaign.Pro-Life Campaign to question parties on abortion stances <Patsy McGarry, The Irish Times, 15 May 2009Solicitor lines out for Libertas in Euro battle , Michael Brennan, Irish Independent, 20 April 2009, retrieved 15 May 2009Raymond O'MalleyEastFormer deputy president of the Irish Farmers' Association.Ganley urges electorate to back party in protest at political establishment , Mark Hennessy, The Irish Times, 11 May 2009, retrieved 15 May 2009

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. Ganley said that he would step down as party leader if he failed to be elected in the North–West constituency.

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.

O'Malley said that Ireland should close its borders to workers from other EU countries while appearing on The Last Word on Today FM.East candidate seeks block on immigrants , Brian Kavanagh, The Irish Times, 15 May 2009

Results

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.Harkin tops North West poll , Mary Minihan, The Irish Times, 9 June 2009. Neither Caroline Simons nor Raymond O'Malley were elected either.Higgins on verge of surprise victory in knife-edge battle for final seat , Harry McGee and Michael O'Regan, The Irish Times, 8 June 2009, retrieved 9 June 2009Childers, Alyward elected in East , The Irish Times, 8 June 2009, retrieved 9 June 2009 Kathy Sinnott also lost her seat.

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

Dissolution In November 2009, the party was removed from the Register of Political Parties in Ireland. 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. As of 2010, the Libertas Institute remained active as a think-tank.

See also Jens-Peter Bonde 2009 European Parliament election

Notes

References