The Libertas Institute is a

lobby group In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

that along with others successfully campaigned for a "no" vote in the 2008 referendum in Ireland on the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member sta ...

Mission statement

Its mission statement was "...to initiate and provoke enlightened discussion on the European Union, its relevance to its member states and peoples and its role in World affairs having regard to our shared values of peace, democracy, individual liberty and free markets...""Libertas Institute:Mission Statement"
Libertas Institute website, retrieved via 20071117014019 entry on the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

Founders

The founders of the Libertas Institute were:

Personnel

Libertas Institute personnel included:

Charter

The Libertas Charter (archive
here
defined what was considered to be Europe's traditional values and influences, asserted what citizens' rights and responsibilities were, acknowledged the EU's role since WWII, stated that the present EU's structure was inherently undemocratic and unaccountable, and pledged to create a popular movement to debate Europe's future."Libertas Institute:Charter"
Libertas Institute website, retrieved via 20071117014059 entry on the

The charter was signed by the following: * Declan J. Ganley * Naoise Nunn * Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev * Paul MacDonnell * Carlos Rodriguez * Dr. Jana Hybaskowa, MEP * Ivan Gabal * Dr. Chris Coughlan * Professor Roger Downer * Artur Osuchowski * Stephen Nolan * Dr. Eamonn Conway * Eamonn Cregan * Gerard Lawless * Diego Solana * Francis O'Flaherty * James O'Reilly * David Cochrane * Keith O'Grady * Fiona Fallon * Zoltan Angyal * Professor Antonio Bar Cendón * Michael McCann

Press releases

The first Libertas Institute press release archived on the

dates to 22 June 2007."Libertas Institute:Home"
Libertas Institute website, retrieved via 20070630145757 entry on the

It concerned French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Treaty of Lisbon's clause regarding free and undistorted competition:"Libertas Expresses Outrage at Sarkozy's Assault on Single Market"
Libertas Institute press release, 22 June 2007, retrieved via 20070627043906 entry on the

an article by Ganley dated 16 July 2007 in ''Business Week'' covered similar themes."An Anticompetitive Europe Must Not Rise"
Business Week, 16 July 2007 The Libertas Institute continued to release press releases during its existence.

Commonality with other organisations

Libertas is registered at Moyne Park, Tuam, County Galway along with other organisations associated with Libertas and/or Declan Ganley."Self Serving US Military Agenda of Messrs Ganley and McEvaddy"
FineGael.ie Press Release, 25 April 2008
Irish Independent, Saturday 7 June 2008"Opening of September II plenary session: Minute of silence for victim of ETA bombing / Funding of the No campaign in Ireland"
European Parliament press release, 22 September 2008
Jamie Smyth, Irish Times, 23 September 2008
Washington Post, 12 June 2008
Irish Times, 31 May 2008 A list of organisations associated with Libertas.eu and/or Declan Ganley is given

here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Television * Here TV (formerly "here!"), a TV ...

Funding

Expenditure

2007 expenditure by Libertas Institute Ltd according to its accounts was: The deadline for submitting a copy of its 2008 bank statement to SIPO was 31 March 2009. Expenditure during the Lisbon I campaign was estimated at "approximately €800,000", "exceeded €1 million", or "€1.3 million", or "€1.8 million"."Comment: Ganley cashed in on our ‘kick the cat’ mood "
Sunday Business Post, Sunday, 15 June 2008

Income

The Libertas Institute had a loan facility with Ganley, and by 3 October 2008 it had used €200,000 of this money. Since 1 January 2008, it also had the facility to receive public donations via its website. Ganley and his wife (Delia Mary Ganley, née Paterek) also donated the maximum amount of €6,300 each. Libertas stated that its donors were "100% Irish".
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Regulation

The Libertas Institute was a "third party" for the purposes of political fundraising. Regulation of such is monitored by the

Standards in Public Office Commission The Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) ( ga, Coimisiún um Chaighdeáin in Oifigí Poiblí) is an independent body established in December 2001 by the Irish Government under the Standards in Public Office Act, 2001. It replaced the Public ...

which imposed a donations limit of €5,348 per donor per year, rising to €6,348.69 per donor per year in 2009,"Third Parties"
from the Standards in Public Office Commission/Coimisiún um Chaighdeáin in Oifigí Poibl�
website
/ref> imposes a limit of €126.97 for any given anonymous donation, and disallows any donation from any non-Irish citizens resident outside the island of Ireland.

Aims

The Libertas Institute advocated a European Energy Innovation Fund intended to license and fund carbon-neutral energy producers, the funding deriving from auctions of emissions allowances."Libertas Energy Initiative – European Energy Innovation Fund"
Libertas Institute website, retrieved via 20080122130832 entry on the

It also deprecated the Treaty of Lisbon"Libertas.org – The Lisbon Treaty"
Libertas Institute website, retrieved via 20080122112042 entry on the

and advocated a "no" vote in Lisbon I, the first Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon.

Libertas in the Lisbon I campaign

On 12 March 2008, Libertas launched a "no" campaign called "''Facts, not politics''" and stated that they expected to spend in the region of €1.5m on the campaign. The campaign targeted wavering moderates, the most critical votes for the referendum.Brady, Hugo. 2008. "Will the Irish Guillotine Lisbon?". Centre for European Reform Briefing Note. The campaign was joined by businessman

Ulick McEvaddy Ulick McEvaddy, a former Irish army officer and native of Swinford County Mayo. In 1984, along with his brother Desmond McEvaddy, he established Omega Air Inc; a Washington-based US Corporation that specialises in the sale and lease of aircraf ...

on 20 April 2008."McEvaddy joins Lisbon 'no' campaign"
RTÉ News, 20 April 2008 Activities undertaken by Libertas during the referendum were as follows: Several politicians, including

Minister of State for European Affairs The Minister of State for European Affairs is a Minister of State (Ireland), junior ministerial post at the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs (Ireland), Department of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Ireland wi ...

Dick Roche Richard Eoin Roche (born 30 March 1947) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister of State for European Affairs from 2002 to 2004 and 2007 to 2011 and Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Minister for the ...

, clashed with the group's campaign stance but the ''

Sunday Business Post The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland. Founding to Irish financial crisi ...

'' reported that the group's efforts at projecting its warnings about the treaty in the media were "hugely successful". The

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

was held on 12 June 2008 and defeated by 53.4% to 46.6%, with a turnout of 53.1%.

Aftermath

Following the referendum, attention shifted to Ganley's new political party

Libertas.eu Libertas was a pan-European political party founded by Declan Ganley that took part in the 2009 European Parliament election in several member states of the European Union. It won one seat in France. History Creation In 2008, the Libertas In ...

, and the Libertas Institute website
libertas.org
' was redirected to that party's website.

Notes

References

External links

Who is Declan Ganley? website

Libertas Institute homepage prior to its redirect to Libertas.eu
Accessed via

.
Libertas Institute blog
Accessed via

Constitution Watch blog
Accessed via

David Cochrane editor politics.ie
{{Libertas topics Libertas.eu Political organisations based in the Republic of Ireland