Libertas Ireland was a political party in Ireland. It contended the
2009 European Parliament elections in Ireland under a common banner with
Declan Ganley
Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the Libertas Party.
Primarily a telecommunications entrepreneur, Ganley has ...
's
Libertas.eu. It shared a headquarters with Libertas.eu
[Th]
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"](_blank)
, a
www.solocheck.ie
, a
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
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 s ...
,
["Ganley plans to fight on in European elections"](_blank)
Sunday Times, June 22, 2008 and attention eventually moved to whether Libertas would run candidates in Ireland.
, Irish Times, 13 December 2008 On 14 March 2009, Ganley held a press conference and announced that it would.
["Ganley launches European election bid"](_blank)
, 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 pan-European party was founded in 2008.
Personnel
2009 European Parliament elections
Candidates
Libertas fielded candidates in three
European Parliament constituencies
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected by the population of the member states of the European Union (EU). The European Electoral Act 2002 allows member states the choice to allocate electoral subdivisions or constituencies (, ...
in Ireland. It did not intend to field a candidate in
South because Libertas had close ties
with
Kathy Sinnott
Kathy Sinnott (; born 29 September 1950) is a disability rights activist and politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South constituency from 2004 to 2009.
Early life
Sinnott was born in Chicago, Illinois, in ...
(
IND
Ind or IND may refer to:
General
* Independent (politician), a politician not affiliated to any political party
* Independent station, used within television program listings and the television industry for a station that is not affiliated with ...
/
EUD/
IND-DEM), an
MEP for that constituency.
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
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtà Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
and
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
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
Proinsias De Rossa (born 15 May 1940) is a former Irish Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Social Welfare from 1994 to 1997, Leader of Democratic Left from 1992 to 1999 and Leader of the Workers' Party from 1988 to 1992. He s ...
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
Today FM is an Irish national commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a l ...
.
[East candidate seeks block on immigrants](_blank)
, Brian Kavanagh, The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
, 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. Neither Caroline Simons nor Raymond O'Malley were elected either. Kathy Sinnott also lost her seat.
European Parliament
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
Jens-Peter Rossen Bonde (27 March 1948 – 4 April 2021) was a Danish politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the June Movement. He resigned as an MEP in May 2008. Bonde was elected to the European Parliament in the ...
*
2009 European Parliament election
Notes
References
{{Historic Irish parties
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
Eurosceptic parties in Ireland
Political parties established in 2009
Political parties disestablished in 2009
Defunct political parties in the Republic of Ireland
2009 establishments in Ireland
2009 disestablishments in Ireland