Another Libertas founder, David Cochrane, say Yes to Lisbon

In today's Irish Times David Cochrane, states he will also Vote Yes to Lisbon in the next referendum.
http://www.irishtimes.com/letters/ 26 June 2009

Madam, – I expect to hear a lot in the coming months about the consequences of Ireland not ratifying the Lisbon Treaty.

It’s easy for the Yes side to talk about the negative consequences of a No vote, and they always seem shocked when they get accused of bullying and threatening behaviour. This is an unfortunate truth, and one which did play a part in the first Lisbon campaign. Even this week, reports covered comments by German Socialist MEP Jo Leinen about the consequences of a No vote and Ireland being moved to a second-class status in the EU. This simply isn’t possible, and it is important that the Yes side seeks to reassure voters of what is possible and what isn’t possible. This is not to say that it should be seen as giving oxygen to the No campaign, far from it – a successful treaty result will be tied to a need for renewed trust in what our politicians tell us.

Comments about the consequences of a No vote need to be seen as unhelpful. It’s all too easy to play to those comments and give them coverage and airtime. These kind of comments also run the chance of giving credence to the possibility that the people may in fact vote No. This is a big mistake. The Yes side need to work from an assumption that the people will vote Yes. This doesn’t mean resting on laurels, but it does mean giving little or no credibility to the chances of losing the second time around.

A successful Yes campaign must be on the merits of what is good about the Lisbon Treaty and what’s good about Europe. Any successful campaign must be based on talking about how Lisbon will fix Europe and, by focusing on areas that are in effect broken, to make it work better.

Classing Yes voters as pro-European and No voters as anti-European didn’t work last time. I doubt whether it will work this time. The Yes campaign can own the argument (unlike last time) by focusing on what’s good; focusing on voting No means being against the positive reform as brought about by the Lisbon Treaty.

Those who voted Yes last time are likely to do so again, thus the focus must be on how to turn the Nos into Yeses. This can be done by focusing on the primary arguments of the No campaign which Ireland has secured guarantees on, and making them arguments in favour of a Yes vote. This may be difficult for those who campaigned for a Yes vote last time to stomach, but they did not win the argument last time — it’s imperative that they do so this time.

But we’re already seeing the same faces with the same language and rhetoric, with the same arguments. This isn’t going to help the Yes campaign. Lisbon 2 must be a fresh campaign, with fresh faces, fresh energy and fresh passion for convincing the No voters to cross the floor – that means telling them their vote did something positive as brought about by Lisbon 2 and urging them to agree by voting Yes.

In particular, I believe the right to retain a commissioner is a massive change, and one which should be overwhelmingly applauded. During the first campaign, many on the Yes side said it wouldn’t be possible, but some of those people have secured that for Ireland.

Focus needs to be put on that leadership, and the ability to secure a better deal, which has been done. Not only has a victory been won for Ireland, but concessions have been given to each member-state with regards keeping a commissioner – this is a victory for everyone across Europe.

People who voted No should be proud of securing not just a better deal for Ireland, but for all Europeans. I believe this is an important aspect to a successful second Lisbon campaign for the Yes camp.

I voted No to Lisbon last year to keep Ireland’s commissioner and am proud of that vote. I’ll be proudly voting Yes in October for precisely the same reason. – Yours, etc,

DAVID COCHRANE,

Editor, Politics.ie

(Former Libertas Lisbon

Campaign Director),

Celbridge, Co Kildare.

Seamus Heaney has raised the debate on the Lisbon treaty.............the Guardian

It takes an Irish poet to remind us of the grandeur of the European project

Seamus Heaney has raised the debate on the Lisbon treaty. A yes vote would be good for Ireland and the EU – and Iran, too

*
o Timothy Garton Ash
o guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 June 2009 20.30 BST
o Article history

'It was the bard wot won it." Will that be the historians' judgment on Ireland's second referendum on the Lisbon treaty, planned for early October? Will the future of Europe be decided by the voice of a poet?

In a rare and moving intervention, Ireland's greatest living poet, Seamus Heaney, has come out plainly for a yes to the Lisbon treaty and raised the whole debate to a different level. Recalling a memorable evening five years ago in Dublin's Phoenix Park when Ireland's EU presidency welcomed 10 new nations into the union, Heaney observes: "Phoenix renewed itself, just as the Union was renewing itself and continues to need to renew itself." Before reading aloud the poem (Beacons at Bealtaine) he wrote on that occasion, Heaney says, in a video clip recorded for last weekend's launch of the new Ireland for Europe campaign: "There are many reasons for ratifying the Lisbon treaty, reasons to do with our political and economic wellbeing, but the poem speaks mainly for our honour and ­identity as Europeans." And then he reads his verse, which includes this great line: "Move lips, move minds and make new meanings flare."

This is not the kind of language we usually associate with the European debate, more's the pity. Yet even if poets are Shelley's "unacknowledged ­legislators", especially in romantic fatherlands like Ireland and Poland, base material concerns will also play a large part. I am told here that the economic crisis, which has hit Ireland especially hard, seems to be one of the main ­reasons that public opinion has swung round in favour of the Lisbon treaty. Tough as things are, the general feeling is that it would have been even worse if Ireland had not been in the EU and the eurozone. "Ireland can't fight global economic forces on its own; in this financial storm, the EU is Ireland's safe harbour", is how Generation Yes, a campaign organised by young Irish pro-Europeans, puts the argument on its website.

In addition, the Irish government has now secured cast iron assurances on many of the popular concerns that fed into last year's no vote: the spectres of conscription and abortion, the ring-fencing of Irish neutrality and the ­country's ability to set competitive tax rates, not to mention the fact that Ireland, along with all other member states, will retain its European ­commissioner. Unlike last time, it looks as if there will now be a well-organised nationwide, non-party yes campaign. Next to the Fianna Fáil government, the main opposition parties, Fine Gael and Labour, will also push for yes.

Meanwhile Libertas, the vanguard of the 2008 no campaign, has collapsed in disarray. (An Irish associate contacted its leader Declan Ganley on my behalf to ask if we could meet to discuss the new referendum, but was told that Ganley is now concentrating on his business interests.) Beside a strange alliance of anti-capitalist hard left and anti-abortion Catholic right, Sinn Féin seems set to hold out against the treaty, with arguments about sovereignty and independence that bear a striking resemblance to those of the British Conservative party.

"It gives the EU too much power and reduces our ability to stop decisions that are not in Ireland's interests," said Sinn Féin's 2008 alternative guide to the Lisbon treaty. "It gives 105 additional powers to the EU on issues such as international relations, security, trade and economic policy. And in more than 60 of these areas we will lose our right to stop laws not in our national interest." Replace "Ireland" with "Britain" and reprint at Conservative central office. Surely Gerry Adams and David Cameron should campaign together.

Yet the organisers of the fledgling yes campaign are far from complacent. This year, as last, the campaign could suffer from association with a rather tired and unpopular government, and an uncharismatic prime minister. In zealous observance of a controversial supreme court ruling, television and radio almost religiously give equal airtime to the yes and no sides. Moreover, Irish voters have a very understandable allergy to being bullied by the rest of Europe into giving the "right" answer. So we, their fellow Europeans, have to be careful what we say and how we say it – perhaps especially if we speak with a British accent.

To be clear: what the Irish decide is entirely up to the Irish. They have as much right to say no as the French did, and Nicolas Sarkozy should stop threatening them with dire consequences if they do. Nonetheless, I hope they will say yes. It takes an Irish poet to remind us of the essential grandeur of this project we call the European Union, where nations born in so much blood work together freely in a commonwealth of democracies. It takes only a stroll round the centre of Dublin to remind you of the lived reality behind those large phrases, with the Polish food shop (Samo Dobro) sitting cheek by jowl with the Irish pub (The Metro, established 1861) on Parnell Street, and with young Irish, Brits and Poles working and living together on entirely equal terms – and taking this for the most normal thing in the world. A prose of everyday life almost as moving as the poetry.

Less immediately visible is the wider context: an increasingly non-European world, shaped by rising ­powers like China and global threats like ­climate change, where even the largest ­European states can only hope to make a difference if we all combine forces and work together. Take Iran, for instance. I have of course been watching the ­television footage of the ­repression in Tehran: those bloody individual ­martyrdoms once so familiar to the streets of Dublin but now only ­recalled here in monuments and plaques. There, as once here, a terrible beauty is born.

I have wished I was there to bear witness. I have wondered if I could possibly write about anything else. But the truth is that there is relatively little that Europe can do in the short term to affect the outcome in Iran, beyond keeping open those ­channels of communication, such as the BBC Persian service, through which Iranians can talk to Iranians. Yet ­looking to the longer term, to write about the future of the European Union is also to write about the future of Iran. For the most important thing the Lisbon treaty does is to create the institutional machinery for a better co-ordinated and more effective European foreign policy. The machinery – not the thing itself. That requires the political will of ­sovereign member states.

In the longer run, this will also make a difference to Iran. At the moment, the European Union's response to the Iranian drama has been fairly well co-ordinated, though even now there have been some differences of public ­emphasis between Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. Behind the scenes there are deeper ­differences of approach. These are likely to become acute if the repression ­continues. And this Iranian regime, with its back to the wall, will redouble its efforts to drive wedges between, say, evil Brits and potentially more ­"co-operative" Germans, or at least to reduce us to a feeble policy of the lowest common multiple. We cannot allow this to happen. For Iran's sake, too, phoenix must renew itself.

Is Ganley Gone for Good?

I have been in touch with Declan Ganley after the EU elections. We exchanged cordial and civilised exchanges re our future intentions. Both of us have had our fill of politics or so it seemed.

However, as the days pass I am inundated with emails from his former colleagues asking me why I am more interested in the disasters and disgraces of e.g. John McGuirk and Caroline Simons, rather than the of the subject of this blog Declan Ganley and his Libertas.

The same can be said for Declan Ganley's former antagonists, emails arrive stating that I have gone soft on Libertas and am ignoring the big issues Lisbon II.

Well I am just here holding my own as one blogger against the fascist hordes.]
There are plenty people arguing for Lisbon, The Edge, Peter Sutherland etc, there are plenty arguing against it too, the Pro lifers, Youth defence, Taxi drivers for change etc.


However, it is clear and has always been clear ,my main interest has been the annihilation of an anti Islamic , anti-black, anti -Irish, anti-Republican, racist, pro-Nazi alliance that was pro right-wing militarisation, pro- attacks on freedom, and had the potential to form a new version of Hitler's party to defile Europe and which lied about almost everything and was desperate to declare war on the Arab Middle East.
Libertas has been defeated for now.

The question is are you ready to ensure that such a party stays defeated?

If you are email peoplekorps@gmail.com and let's see what can be done.

Irish Times' Colm Keena recaps Libertas funding: Criminal charges may yet emerge

Standards inquiry turns spotlight on Ganley loan


ANALYSIS: Questions over funding may yet see Libertas founder Declan Ganley before the courts, writes COLM KEENA .

LIBERTAS AND Declan Ganley may be on the way out in the wake of their poor performance in the European elections, but the inquiry by the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) into how Ganley funded his 2008 campaign against the Lisbon Treaty continues.

Documents released by the commission to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) show the slow-moving wheels of the inquiry are continuing to grind. The possibility of a file being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions features in one document.

The commission’s inquiry is focused on a number of aspects of the Libertas campaign but the major issue is the loan Ganley says he gave to Libertas. Last year he told the commission the personal loan involved “a detailed legal agreement with a repayment plan in accordance with commercial lending norms” and that this was “prepared and signed in accordance with the relevant section of the Electoral Acts”. Under the Electoral Act a loan must be a “bona fide” commercial loan.

A letter from Ganley dated July 7th, 2008 was received by the commission on August 13th. In response the commission sought a copy of the agreement referred to in the letter and a copy of the repayment plan. A copy of the agreement was sent to the commission at the end of March 2009 but was not released under FOI because it might prejudice the commission’s ongoing inquiry into “possible contraventions under consideration by the commission”.

In its response to the FOI request, the commission also said: “Past experience of inquiries made to Libertas by the standards commission has been that the organisation has significantly delayed its responses which has impaired the ability of the commission to effectively conduct such inquiries. Reasons given by Libertas for such delays have included reference to the previous release by the commission of records under FOI.”

It is understood the loan document supplied to the commission by Libertas is signed by Ganley, as the giver of the loan, and by his brother Seán, on behalf of Libertas. It is understood the document does not involve any third party institution or professional.

The Ganley loan is reported to have been for €200,000 and he has told the commission that his was the only loan. The total amount spent on the Libertas campaign was said by Ganley to be in the region of €800,000. There is no obligation on Libertas to disclose the extent of its expenditure to Sipo.

The former “executive director” of Libertas, Naoise Nunn, was the “responsible person” for the organisation’s dealing with Sipo. On June 19th, Sipo wrote to Nunn asking about the loan and two other matters. These were: the use by Libertas during its campaign of a book on the Lisbon Treaty published by the Brussels-based Foundation for European Democracy; and Nunn’s work for Libertas as well as that of another Libertas “executive”, David Cochrane. Both were employees of the Irish subsidiary of Ganley’s US company, Rivada, at the time they were working on the referendum campaign.

Reminders were sent to Nunn when no response was received. On August 12th a letter from the commission chairman, Mr Justice Matthew P Smith, was sent to him advising of the powers available to the commission to seek information and giving seven days to Libertas in which to file a response.

The letter from Ganley dated July 7th was received the next day. On September 30th, 2008 Nunn told the commission he had resigned as the “responsible person” on the 19th of that month. The commission was subsequently told that Seán Ganley had stepped into Nunn’s shoes.

During the referendum campaign, Nunn told this reporter that he was an employee of Rivada who did work for Libertas at the direction of Ganley. He said the same was the case for Cochrane. Bodies such as Libertas are prohibited by law from receiving funding or support from foreign companies and from receiving support above a certain value threshold.

Ganley directly contradicted Nunn. In his letter dated July 7th he said; “A number of employees of Rivada Networks who worked on the Libertas project did so in their spare time and on a voluntary basis.” Nunn when contacted by this newspaper and asked if he wanted to make any further comment or retract his earlier comments, declined to do so.

On September 11th, 2008, Ganley was asked for the number and names of the Rivada employees who worked on the Libertas campaign, whether they worked full time on the campaign or part time, and whether they took paid or unpaid leave to work on the campaign.

On the issue of the Brussels book, Libertas said during its campaign that it had distributed approximately 35,000 copies. In his letter to Sipo, Ganley said: “Libertas received a number of copies of The Lisbon Treaty: The Readable Version from the [Brussels-based] EU Democrats. The books contain no political messaging whatsoever and were distributed to the Irish public free of charge.”

The book has retailed on the internet for €20 and the use of the book raises issues similar to the Rivada issue.

In its letter of August 22nd, Sipo said the points made by Ganley in relation to the book were “not entirely relevant” and asked for Ganley’s views as to why the books should not be considered a donation.

Sipo made inquiries of the Brussels foundation and on April last the book’s editor, Jens-Peter Bonde, told Sipo that “Libertas received 1,000 copies of the book for free”. He did not respond directly to the commission’s question as to whether the book had been for sale, and at what price, saying there was no “real sale” of the book.

“It is . . . absurd to try to find a commercial value of these books. You could have as many as you like – for free.”

It is not clear what further answers, if any, have been received to date in relation to the book and Rivada issues. A memo of a Sipo section meeting on November 24th, 2008, records official Aidan Moore noting that the commission was still awaiting a response from the solicitors, Leo Branigan Co, Longford, who were by then working for Libertas. During the meeting he suggested “that the commission may need to consider whether it should refer a file on the matter to the DPP.” The comment was made in the context of the inquiry into possibly prohibited donations.

In March of this year, Sipo was supplied with the loan agreement and with a copy of statements on the bank account to which Libertas is obliged to lodge all donations. This information is confidential to Sipo and the document was not released under FOI. A letter dated April 29th of this year to Seán Ganley concerning bank transactions was not released under FOI both because Sipo is not allowed release bank statement information and because the release might interfere with its inquiry into possible contraventions of the Electoral Acts.

The loan agreement documentation sent in March was accompanied by a letter from Branigan solicitors that was also not released under FOI. In its response dated April 23rd, Sipo told the firm that the commission intends to deal with its inquiries of Libertas and the responses received, in its annual report which is to be presented by the end of this month.

The Branigan letter may have contained the Libertas responses to the matters raised.

In a submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs in April, Sipo recommended that third party groups such as Libertas should be required to disclose details of their expenditure on referendum campaigns and the sources of their, and of political parties, funding. Also, it recommended that failure to co-operate with inquiries made by the commission should constitute an offence. It said it had received responses from Libertas to questions raised.

Libertas is a registered corporate entity. In April of last year The Libertas Institute Ltd filed accounts for the 2007 year. They showed no income or expenditure during the period. The accounts for the 2008 year have not as yet been filed.

Last week The Irish Times reported that the Libertas candidate in the Netherlands in the European elections, Eline van den Broek, has appealed to Declan Ganley to pay €350,000 the organisation owes as a result of its unsuccessful election campaign.

She said she had been assured by Declan Ganley that he would pay for the campaign and that the bulk of the money spent had been lent from the bank. However, a spokesman for Libertas said it had been made clear during the campaign that the money spent by Libertas candidates would have to be raised from donors and supporters.

It is understood most if not all EU states have laws governing foreign funding of political campaigns.

A spokesman for Libertas said he had no comment to make for the purposes of this article.

Colm Keena is Public Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times

Libertas implosion generates some amusing Irish press comment

Justine McCarthy - "Last week was a week to be ashamed of being Irish... What weird, perverted people our fellow Europeans must think us"

They came. They saw. They bombed at the box office. And now they're hissing and spewing writs at each other like panicked rats on a sinking ship. Gratifying though it is, the demise of Libertas is an unedifying spectacle. A month ago, Declan Ganley was predicting a landslide 100-seat victory in the European parliament. On 5 June, voters across the continent sent his motley crew packing with their tail and the grand sum of minus-two seats between their legs. One anonymous Libertas source has been quoted saying its Dublin candidate, the beatific anti-abortionist Caroline Simons, was so insufferable even her own campaign workers couldn't bring themselves to vote for her on polling day.

Yippee! Democracy works. Libertas spent money like a Russian oligarch in Tiffanys but the votes could not be bought. Liberating Lech Walesa from the Gdansk history vaults to formally launch the campaign cost a reputed €50,000. The Dutch branch is threatening to sue Ganley over its squandered €350,000 expenditure. If the average Libertas campaign spend was less than that – say €200,000 – and 603 candidates stood under its banner, the total bill works out at a nine-digit sum.

It wasn't just the money, though. The dirty-tricks department went into overdrive. Libertas claimed endorsements by prominent Europeans who robustly denied they were supporters. Those denials got credence from Naoise Nunn's admission that the anti-Lisbon treaty referendum campaign he directed for Libertas last year resorted to "scare-mongering and disinformation". Despite the spondulicks and the phantom Frankenstein of military conscription that purportedly sent Irish mothers scurrying to vote 'No', Europe's voters were still able to discern the yuck factor. To put it more eloquently, as did the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, they recognised a mixum-gatherum of "anti-semites, homophobes and anti-migrants" and said no thank you.

So today we should be dancing on Libertas's grave. But we can't, because the corpse is busy in Brussels rattling its old bones.

Brian Cowen and Micheál Martin pursued the politically advisable, pragmatic and expedient option last week when they browbeat the EU into granting Ireland certain guarantees to fireproof Lisbon Two. Even poor, beleaguered Gordon Brown caved in, knowing it was another of the thousand cuts that will kill him in the end. Last week was a week to be ashamed of being Irish. Not because, once again, we were screeching up to Europe's door with a begging bowl in one hand and a gun-to-the-head in the other. What was mortifying was our exhibition of ourselves as a shower of un-self-aware hypocrites.

Europe, we said, in all conscience (that terror-inducing Irish weapon) we cannot promise to save this treaty unless you guarantee the most valued core principles of our people. Right, said Europe, what are they? Neutrality and the abortion ban, we said. Europe kicked itself under the table, suppressed a chuckle and hatched a concordat.

If neutrality and the pseudo-abortion ban are our two most cherished positions I dread to think what might be the disposable ones. We don't even sufficiently care about either to discuss them from one end of a decade to the next. They are just there – like the midlands and men called Sean. What's to discuss? We have let the neutrality we hold so dear slide into a reflex cop-out inertia rather than hone it as the sort of muscular anti-war stance demonstrated by the Swedes, for instance. We don't like talking about it because of all the historical baggage that comes with it.

As for abortion? This is the apogee of our two-facedness. Nearly two decades ago, the Supreme Court delivered a celebrated judgment on abortion containing a rebuke of the legislature for its cowardice on the issue and still the legislative desert flourishes. Justice minister Dermot Ahern regards the passage of a blasphemy bill as a matter of urgency following a recent Supreme Court ruling but sees no need whatsoever to respond in kind to the X Case judgment. Twenty-six years ago, we passed a constitutional amendment on abortion that has proved to be a legal landmine and governments ever since have been trying to shore it up. The fact is that abortion is legal in Ireland under the X judgment and all the single European acts, Maastricht and Lisbon protocols in the world will not change that.

What weird, perverted people our fellow Europeans must think us when they see us coming, trumpeting our conscience and our anti-abortionism. Not to mention our hypocrisy. Are the Irish not the same people, they surely ask one another, who gave us the Ryan report about the sadistic brutalisation of born-children?

jmccarthy@tribune.ie

Mainstream Irish media that let Libertas away with everything now tries to redeem itself with anti Libertas angles. Too little too late?

Libertas leaves a nasty taste after poll shenanigans
Declan Ganley and his crew did themselves no favours during their European campaign, says Emer O'Kelly

Sunday June 21 2009

Now that it is all over, Declan Ganley, the leader of the now apparently defunct 'pan-European' Libertas party, looks set to disappear as quickly and mysteriously as he appeared.

The self-made billionaire had, and presumably still has, a house in Ireland, (apparently a very pretty house) although it is not clear if he is resident here for tax purposes, and until the Libertas campaign, his was never a very noticeable presence in this country.

But his billions do not seem to have been put at the disposal of his political allies here or in other countries, although most of them are claiming forcefully that this was his promise. Very little is clear about Ganley, his finances, or his career. His views, however, are well-known, and fit very comfortably with those of Philippe de Villiers, Libertas' "last man standing" in the European elections. De Villiers was leader of his own extreme nationalist 'Mouvement pour la France' until he came under the Libertas wing.

He was the only candidate in any European country to get elected to the European Parliament under the Libertas banner, but in recent days has reverted to designating himself once more under the 'Mouvement plF' insignia.

Eline van den Broek is even more disillusioned. She is a political scientist, and was leader of Libertas in the Netherlands, where extreme right-wing views have never been particularly popular. She only polled 15,000 votes.

In Poland, former President Lech Walesa, whose proud boast was that he had "never read a book, and when he wanted to know something, looked to the Holy Father", was an ally, until he stated that he would urge the Irish people to vote 'Yes' in a second Lisbon referendum. An even closer ally was Miroslaw Orzechowski, leader of the (Catholic) Polish People's Party, one of whose planks is a denial of the 1941 Polish pogrom of thousands of Jews. Ganley dumped him only weeks before the election when he was charged with drunken driving.

Van den Broek is now suing Ganley. He signed off formally, she says, on a budget of €1.1m for the Libertas campaign in the Netherlands. He didn't deliver, and she is suing for €350,000, of which she herself contributed €20,000.

On Ganley's behalf, a spokesman has claimed that they "always made it clear" that money for the election "would have to be raised from donors and supporters".

But then, statements from Libertas spokesmen have a habit of becoming contradictory to the point of hilarity for the rest of the populace.

Caroline Simons, one of those "young articulate professionals" who are such manna for political parties (she's a solicitor) stood for Libertas in Dublin. During the campaign there was an electrical fault in the basement of the campaign office in Baggot Street, in Dublin. A press release was issued, quoting the candidate as saying that while the cause of the fire was "unknown", she was "shocked that something like this would happen. I hope that this is not the action of some political crank. If this fire is found to be the action of an opposing political party, we will seek prosecutions".

No prosecutions followed, presumably because there was never any doubt that the fire was the result of a short-circuit. What was not short-circuited, however, was the career of the person later described merely as "over-zealous" for inventing the comment. Ms Simons seemed to consider it enough to say she had not been consulted. She wasn't "shocked" that a Libertas worker issued blatant lies about what she had said.

Then there was another erroneous press release. Sent out by senior press officer John McGuirk, she was quoted as calling the Simon Wiesenthal Centre (the internationally renowned Jewish organisation responsible for bringing many Holocaust perpetrators to justice) "beneath contempt".

The centre had claimed that some Libertas candidates were known homophobes, anti-Semitic, and anti-migration racists. This was, the Simons' press release claimed, the establishment getting desperate, and finding "a willing idiot to come and say it".

Declan Ganley magisterially rushed to say that Libertas would work WITH the Simon Wiesenthal Centre to fight anti-semitism in the European Parliament, and Caroline Simons sent a legal letter to McGuirk, the man who issued (and presumably drafted) the press release, accusing him of defaming her.

Beastly of her, one might say, to be so nasty to the man who was working day and night on her behalf, and issuing lots of press releases saying what a truly super human being she was, and what a super MEP she would make.

Except it now seems that wasn't what he thought at all, and it wasn't the establishment that was desperate. On Bloomsday, McGuirk posted on the internet what he claimed was his real opinion of Ms Simons. Its invective might have appealed to James Joyce, but it lacked the master's lyricism.

McGuirk described Simons as the "worst candidate in the world". But like some of his earlier press releases saying the opposite, this was quickly withdrawn.

The majority of us have too much sense, and have been forced by experience to be too cynical, to believe most of the words issued by politicians and their lackeys, paid or unpaid. We try to judge people on their actions and the delivery of their word of honour. And honour seems to have been conspicuous by its absence during the Libertas 'campaign', from the particular to the general.

Most of us think that to imply the intent of criminal arson to an opponent is "beneath contempt". Some of us might even think that doing it without a profound and abject apology when its blatant untruth is revealed is also "beneath contempt". And we might be fairly sickened by an organisation that fails to make an example of the person responsible. After all, by their company shall ye know them. And we might not want that kind of company under any guise, Christian or otherwise.

Alleged Spindoctor calls Libertas vote loser Simons ‘psychotic bitch’

Ireland's Evening Herald could not resist the spectacle of Libertas's undignified implosion. As reported on the web yesterday the McGuirk/Simons affair has hit the headlines again. This is an added bonus to all anti Libertas campaigners and voters. Expect more in the coming days as Irish journalists rediscover McGuirk's difficult history in political parties and the flame outs he has previously been pivotal to when in them!!! Meanwhile, Ganley is no where to be seen.
keep it coming email peoplekorps@gmail.com


Spindoctor calls Libertas poll failure Simons ‘psychotic bitch’

ATTACK: But anti-Lisbon candidate gives no response to Facebook slur ">

By Kevin Doyle, POLITICAL REPORTER

Thursday June 18 2009

Libertas close main office but decide to keep four going.

Libertas close main office but decide to keep four going.


POLITICAL PARTIES Libertas

Libertas closes its Brussels headquarters

By Judith Crosbie

18.06.2009 / 05:15 CET

The political party Libertas has closed its office in Brussels, but will keep branches open in the UK, Slovakia, Estonia and Lithuania.

“Since we don't have a party in Belgium we are not going to need the office here, but some will stay open and keep campaigning for transparency and democracy in the EU,” said a spokeswoman.

Libertas began life last year as a campaign group against the Lisbon treaty in Ireland and was credited with having helped achieve the ‘No' vote in the referendum against the treaty in June 2008.

Party leader Declan Ganley stood in Ireland for election to the European Parliament but failed to win a seat. He then announced that he would not get involved in a campaign in Ireland to oppose the Lisbon treaty in a second referendum, due in the autumn, but a spokeswoman said that this did not rule out others campaigning.

The office closed last week after opening last December in Brussels' EU quarter as a headquarters for the pan-European party. The spokeswoman said that eight people worked in the office, but all were either on sabbatical from full-time jobs or had contracts for the duration of the election campaign.

Funding row

Last week it emerged that the Dutch branch of Libertas was seeking €350,000 from Ganley to cover the costs of the election campaign there.

Eline van den Broek, who led the party in the Netherlands, told the Irish Times the debts were in Ganley's name and she was not responsible for them. But Libertas said in a statement that it had been made clear to all branches that money spent during the campaign would have to be raised.

Internal divisions in the party emerged this week which could damage any campaign on the second referendum in Ireland.

Caroline Simons, who stood in Ireland during the European Parliament elections, alleged defamation by Ganley's spokesman, John McGuirk. She objected to a press release sent out by McGuirk during the election campaign in which he attributed to her a comment that the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, an international Jewish organisation, was “beneath contempt”.

The comment followed a statement by the centre that some Libertas candidates were anti-Semitic. Simons denied making the comment.

This week McGuirk told the Irish Times: “I'm very disappointed that a candidate who didn't perform particularly well in the election would choose to embarrass herself like this.”

John McGuirk

Most of the info received so far is not publishable but keep it coming it is hilarious.

Libertas implodes in Ireland as John McGuirk calls losing candidate Caroline Simons a "psychotic bitch" on Facebook

John McGuirk, Libertas Ireland Press Officer, has a new facebook status as of 16 June 2009:
'John McGuirk is glad to be finally free to tell the world that Caroline Simons is a psychotic bitch who was the worst candidate ever'.

This petty vicious infighting is typical of all of McGuirk's previous political messes.
Caroline Simons to sue John McGuirk Irish Times

Caroline Simons threatens to sue John McGuirk over anti Jewish slur issued by Libertas

Caroline Simons is blaming John McGuirk, the nasty Libertas pr man, for her reported describing an international Jewish organisation, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, as “beneath contempt”.

McGuirk describes her recent legal letter to himself is an embarrassment for herself.
Libertas lackeys are eating their insides.
It would be great if McGuirk if Simons pursues the action and nails McGuirk as his arrogence and other activities which, are under investigation, need to be exposed.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Libertas candidate claimed defamation

MARY MINIHAN

UNSUCCESSFUL LIBERTAS candidate for Dublin Caroline Simons sent a legal letter to Declan Ganley’s spokesman the day after the European elections accusing the spokesman of defaming her.

Ms Simons’s complaint related to a press release issued to the media in her name describing an international Jewish organisation, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, as “beneath contempt”.

The release was prompted by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s claim that some Libertas candidates around Europe were “known anti-Semites, homophobes and anti-migrant racists”.

Ms Simons’s letter to John McGuirk, seen by The Irish Times , was dated June 6th.

This was after Mr Ganley had announced Libertas would “ally itself” with the Wiesenthal Centre to fight anti-Semitism in the European Parliament and Libertas had issued a retraction of the original statement in Ms Simons’s name.

On June 1st, a statement from the Wiesenthal centre claimed “extremist” parties and individuals were “reportedly affiliated to the Libertas bloc, founded in 2006 by the Irish-based magnate, Declan Ganley, in order to combat the Lisbon Treaty on European integration”.

Referring to Libertas candidates across Europe, the Wiesenthal centre said: “Some of those standing are known anti-Semites, homophobes and anti-migrant racists.”

A responding statement issued by Libertas in Ms Simons’s name described the Wiesenthal centre as “beneath contempt”.

The statement said it had been only a matter of time before “the establishment got so desperate” that it resorted to calling Libertas Nazis. “The only surprise here is that we had to wait so long before they could find a willing idiot to come and say it.” The statement was dated June 2nd but released on the 3rd.

Later the same day, Mr Ganley announced that Libertas would “ally itself” with the centre “in a joint commitment to defend against, and actively fight, racism and anti-Semitism within the European Parliament and other European Institutions”.

Libertas’s press office said it later issued another statement saying the earlier release attributed to Ms Simons had been issued in error and had not been approved. Ms Simons told The Irish Times that “a number” of press releases were issued in her name without her knowledge during the recent campaign.

She said she sent an e-mail to media outlets on June 3rd, signed by Mr Ganley and herself, saying: “A statement was released earlier today by a member of the Irish Libertas staff which contained untruths.” Ms Simons said she sent an e-mail to the RTÉ newsdesk on June 6th, saying: “The release made by a Libertas staff member was made without Ms Simons’ knowledge or authority and comments ascribed to her were never said and are untrue.”

Mr McGuirk said yesterday: “I’m very disappointed that a candidate who didn’t perform particularly well in the election would choose to embarrass herself like this.”

The subsequent letter from Ms Simons’s solicitor to Mr McGuirk said the original statement issued on her behalf was defamatory.

Ms Simons’s solicitor had instructed Mr McGuirk to issue a new statement to the media outlets that had received the original release, saying Ms Simons was “in fact an ardent supporter” of the Wiesenthal centre and its causes

Neo Nazis and Libertas

In light of Declan Ganley's attempts to placate the Simon Wiesenthal Centre last week, please note Ganley's Italian fascist who ran for Libertas.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0603/euroelection.html

SWC Urges EU Fundamental Rights Agency to Investigate Libertas Pan-European Bloc's Alleged Promotion of Racist Candidates

Paris, 1 June 2009

Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, urged the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) "to launch an investigation into the financing and promotion campaigns of MEPs who will be elected this week to the new European Parliament and who espouse antisemitic, anti-Muslim, anti-Roma, homophobic or other discriminatory platforms. Such enquiry should also focus on the Libertas pan-European bloc's reported affiliation with those MEPs.

The letter to FRA Chairperson, Anastasia Crickley, noted that, "Last month, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre launched a campaign to educate its constituency across Europe in regard to the positions of the candidates and parties, calling for a high voter turnout in order to contain those promoting hate and discrimination."

Samuels added that "the Centre's Notice No. 3, its last before the vote, points to extremist parties and individuals reportedly affiliated to the Libertas bloc, founded in 2006 by the Irish-based magnate, Declan Ganley, in order to combat the Lisbon Treaty on European integration."

The Centre continued, "Libertas is running some 600 candidates in over 20 of the elections in the 27 member-states. Some of those standing are known antisemites, homophobes and anti-migrant racists. These include:

- Ryszard Bender and Anna Sobecka of the Polish League of Families. Both are supporters of the widely criticized antisemitic Radio Maryja, where Bender was recorded as stating that Auschwitz was 'not a death camp but a labour camp where Jews and Gypsies were killed by hard labour – not so hard, not always killed.'

- Georgios Georgiou, of the Greek LAOS party which was described by the United States State Department as antisemitic, racist and xenophobic. Uschi Winkelsett, head of the German extreme right Republikaner party, claimed to have received congratulations from Libertas upon her election. There are also press reports of Libertas' outreach to the Austrian BZO party of the late Hitler admirer, Jörg Haider."

"Libertas is running candidates either under its own name, or as affiliated parties or individuals, according to press reports, in: the Czech Republic (29 candidates), Estonia (6), France (147), Germany (11), Greece (22), Ireland (Ganley himself leads the list), Latvia (8), Malta (1), Netherlands (24), Poland (128), Portugal (22), Slovakia (13), Spain (50), United Kingdom (56)."

The letter acknowledged that "funding for Libertas' campaign against the Lisbon Treaty referendum in Ireland is currently under investigation by the Irish Standards in Public Office commission (SIPO), for 'compliance with the laws on elections and referenda'."

Samuels emphasized concern at "the possible cartelization of the European elections with massive public relations resources, coopting or endorsing groups or individuals known to incite to hatred."

The Centre recalled that, "in 1933, a potent mix of economic crisis, racism and a leadership vacuum brought Europe - and subsequently the world – to the abyss."

"Europeans have painfully learned that democracy cannot be defined only by the holding of popular elections, if those elected are bent upon the violation of fundamental rights."

"Our Centre is advising our members to use their vote wisely within this context," concluded Samuels.


For earlier SWC Notices regarding the elections to the European Parliament, please consult www.wiesenthal.com:

- 6 May 2009, "Wiesenthal Centre To European Parliament President: 'Condemn French Anti-Zionist Party... Its Very Candidacy Offends the European Parliament Itself"

- 22 May 2009, "Wiesenthal Centre Concerned Low Voter Turnout in EU Elections Will Empower Anti-Semitic Parties"


For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58.

---

A couple of links to information about Teodoro Buontempo, President of La Destra, part of the L'Autonomia group of Italian political parties, which Libertas formed an electoral alliance with:

Quote:

Two weeks earlier, a gang of 200 Nazi-skins marched through the northern Italian city of Vicenza shouting racist slogans and waving banners with swastika-like emblems. Mainstream political leaders expressed outrage, but not Teodoro Buontempo, 48, a self-proclaimed fascist elected to Parliament in March on the ticket of the National Alliance, the successor to the party founded by followers of Benito Mussolini. In an interview with the Turin daily La Stampa, Buontempo said, "I would send them into the midst of society" to proclaim their values.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,980841,00.html

Quote:

There was a glaring absence outside the Mussolini family tomb in Predappio, 50 miles west of Rimini, last October, when the neo-fascists gathered for the annual commemoration of Il Duce's March on Rome and accession to power in 1922: Gianfranco Fini, the party's leader, stayed away. The black-shirted "Naziskins" were out in force with their tattoos and black banners and Roman salutes. Present was one of their heroes, Teodoro Buontempo, MP for Ostia, near Rome, and one of the most flamboyant figures on Italy's extreme right. Also there were aged veterans of Mussolini's Republic of Sal and others from the shadowy margins of Italian society who look back on the Fascist decades with keen nostalgia.

Quote:

... Buontempo's long day, fuelled by coffee, nicotine and grappa, is not over yet. We get back into the black Mercedes and his driver, a man with a shaven head and massive chest, a former Italian champion of tae kwon do, bullies the car through another 25 miles to the town of Frascati, in the hills south of Rome. For an hour in a local television studio, Buontempo fields calls in a phone-in programme. When it's over he declares that he wants to show us his house in the mountains, high above Rome. It's a long grind uphill through hairpin bends in the fog. The house is zany, built on a steep slope, and full of ornate brick and tile work executed by Buontempo himself. It's also full of memorabilia: the collected works of Mussolini - some two dozen volumes; a painting of the great man, superimposed on a storm-tossed sea, by his grandson Romano; a bottle of wine, "Vino Nero", the black label emblazoned with a bundle of fasces and the letter M - a nd bottled in Predappio, where the great man was born. There's a huge volume of Mussolini's writings, the cover a bas-relief in pewter of Mussolini's head. Buontempo's house is a shrine to Il Duce.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/il-duces-disciple-1612672.html

Quote:

Rome, April 30th. Libertas:eu, the pan European people’s movement, is in discussions with L’Autonomia - a coalition of La Destra, MPA, Partito Pensionati and Alleanza di Centro - for the European election campaign in Italy. Declan Ganley, Libertas.eu Chairman, says “Libertas.eu and L’Autonomia would offer an alternative for the people of Italy in the European Parliament elections in June. It is a unique alternative which will ensure that Italians get a better deal from Europe. The parties of l’Autonomia are true democrats who want to bring about positive change for their constituents.”

http://www.libertas.eu/en/news/news-italy/274-libertaseu-and-lautonomia-in-discussions-to-run-together-for-european-elections-in-italy-announcement-to-be-made-at-the-first-libertas-convention-in-rome

List of candidates running for L'Autonomia in the Italia Centrale constituency (circosrizione):

III° CIRCOSCRIZIONE ITALIA CENTRALE (Toscana, Marche, Umbria, Lazio)

MONICA STEFANIA BALDI
STEFANO BENEDETTI
MAURIZIO BRUGIATELLI
TEODORO BUONTEMPO
FRANCESCA MARIA CANTALAMESSA
GRAZIANO CECCHINI
COSIMO CHIARELLI
CARLO FATUZZO
UMBERTO NARDINOCCHI
MONICA NASSISI
PAOLO RICCIOTTI
FRANCESCO SAPONARO
STEFANO TODINI
ALDO TRACCHEGIANI

http://blogs.libertas.eu/italia/2009/05/08/lautonomia-liste-dei-candidati/

Teodoro Buontempo speaking about the alliance with Libertas:



and another official Libertas offering

and Bulgaria

Some information about Ataka, the Bulgarian far-right party whose representative, Hristov Kuminev, allegedly signed a document supporting the Libertas application to become a recognised pan-EU party. Photo of the document, headed with the words 'Libertas Membership Form' with his signature: http://www.flickr.com/photos/libertaseu/3256116986/ Some information about Ataka: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25469 http://www.freemedia.at/index.php?id=226&tx_ttnews%5Bpointer%5D=1&tx_ttnew s%5Btt_news%5D=3177&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=332&cHa sh=61e4f1bcc3 http://www.birn.eu.com/en/84/10/2952/ http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100552.htm http://chezsinjab.blogspot.com/2008/09/fear-danger-and-possibility-in.html http://mayas-corner.blogspot.com/2006/09/dimitar-stoyanov-child-prodigy-of.html http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2766 http://www.sofiamorningnews.com/ http://thereport.amnesty.org/en/regions/europe-central-asia/bulgaria

Dublin taxi drivers sporting illegal stickers should have their plates revoked

The Gardai have been lax in their acceptance of taxi drivers sporting racist "We the people " stickers. It is time for citizens to take action. These taxi drivers should be boycotted. Do not accept carriage from taxi drivers whose cabs bear the blue "We the People" stickers with the harp and a message about the Irish constitution.
Journalists and politicians please highlight this issue.
Citizens make your voices heard report all these drivers to the Gardai at your nearest police station or the Carriage Office in Dublin.

see Decaln Ganley's endorsement of racist taxi drivers http://www.libertas.eu/ireland/press-releases/41-press-releases/142-libertas-calls-for-3-year-moratorium-on-taxi-plates

All taxi drivers sporting such stickers should be photographed with their stickers and registration numbers and taxi number and these should be forwarded to me at peoplekorps@gmail.com and the carriage office at Dublin Castle. let's run these racists off the road. All info in strictest confidence to peoplekorps@gmail.com You can also call the organiser of this racist alliance on his personal mobile phone he is
Jim Waldon tel 0872431862
email jimwaldron@oceanfree.net

Jim you deserve to not have a taxi . This blog will work to ensure that the Gardai are aware of your activities.

Complaints

When making a complaint it is be essential that you have the licence number of the vehicle and the name of the driver if possible in order that the complaint can be investigated. Enforcement is a matter for the Gardaí. Complaints about taxis, hackneys and limousines, including those of overcharging, in taxis, should be made to the Gardaí. The Carriage office in Dublin Castle handles complaints relating to Dublin taxis only. Complaints can be made to any Garda station, or to the relevant Garda PSV officer on a local or regional basis.

Dublin:-
Complaints Section, Garda Carriage Office
Dublin Castle, Dublin 2. Tel: 01 - 666 9864

Ganley's employees and their activities

Over the past year or so Declan Ganley/libertas/Rivada employees such as John McGuirk tel 086 858 2351 and David Cochrane have been engaged in various activities that should now be laid firmly at their doors, If you have any information from inside Libertas or from your personal assoiations with these agents of the far right email peoplekorps@gmail.com. As usual all correspondence will be dealt with in strictest confidence.
I would like to take this opportunity to also thank the various Libertas employees who have volunteered their info and services to this blogger, You know who you are, Merci, danke and thank you.
Don't let Libertas regroup , now is the time to forward all info no matter how insignifficant it may seem to this blogger. EMAIL in confidence peoplekorps@gmail.com

Irish Times on Libertas cash battles

Following yesterday's Dutch story Jamie Smyth from the Irish Times has followed up and interviewed the pro-torture Libertas Dutch leader who it turns out made a special trip to Ireland to try and get Ganley to pay the money promised to Libertas Holland. As it turns out while Libertas were lying through their teeth about being about to get 150 seats and having the most hit website in the world , on the ground individuals and the party were let collapse in the run up to the Euro elections. The level of cynical manipulation used by Libertas in its pr pushes political hype and deceit to a new level. Remember this if Ganley ever tries to enter public life again and indeed if you have to deal with him in a private capacity.

Dutch branch of Libertas seeks €350,000 from Declan Ganley

JAMIE SMYTH in BrusselsTHE

DUTCH branch of Libertas has appealed to Declan Ganley to pay them €350,000 they say they are owed to cover the costs of their European election campaign.

Libertas Spain has also expressed disappointment at the lack of financial support they got from the Libertas founder during the campaign, which saw the 14 Libertas parties across Europe pick up just a single seat in France.

“At this moment I have total bills of €350,000, which are in Declan’s name. I am not personally responsible for them,” said Eline van den Broek, the 28-year-old political scientist who led Libertas in the Netherlands.

Ms van den Broek told The Irish Times yesterday she had been assured by Mr Ganley that he would pay the money required to finance the party’s campaign in the elections. She said he had signed off on a campaign budget worth €1.1 million.

But she said she had still not received the cash despite making an emergency trip to Ireland in the middle of the campaign.

“I travelled to his home in Galway and waited until 2am to speak to him. When he came back from canvassing he told me he would pay the money,” said Ms van den Broek, who added that she felt Mr Ganley would hand over the money.

In a statement last night a Libertas spokesman said at no stage was any candidate “promised” money.

“At every stage in our campaign, we made clear that all of the money we spent would have to be raised from donors and supporters. We have always said that we would spend what we could raise, and thankfully in most member states we have raised enough to meet all campaign requirements.

“In the case of the Netherlands, we will continue to work with the Dutch team, providing all the necessary support to ensure that they can service any remaining requirements within the necessary time frame and in accordance with regulatory guidelines.”

The Dutch branch of Libertas spent €350,000 on its campaign on one million leaflets and TV adverts. The cash was raised on a personal contribution of €20,000 from Ms van den Broek and bank loans. But the party ran out of cash during the campaign and could not pay people to distribute its leaflets or pay a TV channel to broadcast the adverts.

In the elections Libertas won just 14,000 votes in the Netherlands and did not come close to taking a seat.

Ms van den Broek said she still thought Mr Ganley would provide the money to cover the debts and was not at the stage of taking legal action against him. “I think he has no bad intentions. I would ask what would his motivation be for not paying?”

The Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reported yesterday that Libertas Spain was considering taking legal action because it had received only a fraction of the €4 million it said it had been promised by Mr Ganley. But Miguel Duran, who headed the Libertas Spain list in the elections, refused to confirm the comments.

The future of Libertas’s European organisation is expected to be decided in the coming days. The office in Brussels has already laid off staff.

Victorious MEP slams Libertas dirty tricks by Declan Ganley

Higgins slams Libertas leader’s ‘negative personal politics’

Mayo Advertiser, June 12, 2009.

Ganley heads off into the sunset

By Colm Gannon

Five years and a month after Declan Ganley chaired the Libertas forum to discuss the European Constitution during Ireland's presidency of the European Union he walked off the political stage, as the sun began to set outside the count centre for the North West Constituency in Castlebar on Monday. Surrounded by a flash of cameras and a fan of microphones, the Libertas founder said his farewell to public life. “I have said that I would seek a mandate from the people and it's pretty clear that I did not get the mandate from the people here. I can take no for answer, I'm a democrat and I love my country.”

Ganley, who polled extremely well in Belmullet and Achill, went on to thank the people around him who supported him during the campaign which saw him get 67,638 first preference votes: “I just want to say thank you to all the people who gave me their number one votes. I also want to thank all the volunteers across the county and the country. It was a hard fought fight and an uphill battle but we had the best and the brightest in Ireland with us.”

Ganley, whose campaign against the Lisbon Treaty was seen as one of the major factors in getting it defeated the first time around, also declared that he would not be taking any part in the campaign on the second referendum which is expected to be announced in the near future. “I will not be involved in the second Lisbon campaign. I've said that up front. I've got to get back to work. When one door closes another one opens.”

Ganley's decision to concede the race ended almost a full day after the counting process had begun. The count was suspended late on Sunday night by returning officer Kieran McDermott after Ganley raised with him that he had been informed of the possibility that a wheelie bin of his first preference votes had been wrongly allocated to another candidate. McDermott acceded to his request for a full recheck of the ballot papers.

The recheck began on Monday morning at 9am and wasn't completed until 5.30pm that evening, when the recheck was completed it turned out that in fact Ganley had been wrongly allocated 3,000 first preference votes that belonged to Independent candidate Fiachra O'Luain.

The recheck saw Ganley's first preference poll fall from 70,638 to 67,638 and fall further behind the three front runners and later elected candidates MEP Jim Higgins, MEP Marian Harkin and TD Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher.

Harkin was the winner in the popular poll, taking an astounding 84,813 first preference votes to cement her position in the parliament. Gallagher, a late addition to the Fianna Fáil ticket when sitting MEP Seán Ó Neachtain was forced to withdraw form the race late on, took 82,643 first preference votes, with Mayo based MEP Jim Higgins taking 80,093 number ones.

Dirty campaign

Higgins in particular was very happy to retain his seat and beat off Declan Ganley's challenge. “The icing on the cake is that Libertas are not taking a seat here. Declan Ganley said in this campaign that Libertas would take 100 seats, the leader of Libertas didn't take a seat,” Higgins told reporters. Higgins and Ganley had a number of comings together during the course of the campaign and the former teacher was happy to have got the better of the Libertas leader. “He attacked me from the outset of the campaign and in fact he incited court proceedings against me and threatened me with court proceedings in the High Court and I told him that I would look forward to seeing him in the High Court and that challenge still stands. But apart from that the campaign became very nasty, normally we have Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil debate the different issues on policy. But I never came across the dirty campaign that was organised and driven by Declan Ganley. I have no problem debating policy, but the negative personality thrust of the Ganley campaign is something I have never seen before and I've been in politics since 1979. I hope that Declan will have learned a lesson that he may be a very good businessman but politics is a different sphere and people don't like negative personal politics.”

After being given a mandate for five more years by the people of the North West constituency, there is one major issue that Higgins wants to put front and centre on the table: “The big thing is to put the Irish economy front and central and get the European Union behind the Irish economy because it is a catastrophe at the moment and if we want to revive the Irish economy we have to be at the heart of Europe. If people had backed Mr Ganley then we would be at the margins of Europe.”

All three returned MEPs are fully behind the Lisbon Treaty and the two architects of the downfall of the treaty last time out (Declan Ganley and Sinn Féin candidate for North West Padraig MacLochlainn failed on this occasion. Ireland’s deteriorating economic situation, which has shifted dramatically since the Lisbon Treaty referendum, may have attributed to this.

Declan Ganley's political legacy is likely to be lawsuits from the various national parties who claim that he has not handed over the cash he promised

A sad and a grubby tale of Declan Ganley's Libertas party is beginning to emerge. one where people have lost their jobs to support Libertas and invested thousands of Euros of their own funds into the party only to find that the promised funding from Declan Ganley HAS NOT emerged and their fear is that it will not emerge.

Readers of this blog will not be surprised that the Libertas political movement has joined other Ganley failures like the Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund. However given the level of hype and rhetoric from Ganley and his followers it is a remarkable twist that the Spanish Libertas list and the Dutch list are now out of pocket. Reports are emerging from Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that there will be a lawsuit by the Spanish, French, and Portuguese Libertas and they are inviting the Dutch branch to join them.

Eline van de Broek, the torture supporting candidate for Dutch Libertas , has stated that she was on the phone to Ganley's wife at 1.30 am some mornings trying to get the money Declan Ganley had promised her. However, Ganley when he came home was "too tired to talk to her". He also promised her repeatedly that "the money would come tomorrow".

It would appear that the "self made man" thought he could pull of an electoral deception based on mobilising people across Europe on promises of funding which have not materialised in many cases.


Ironically Phillipe De Villiers in an email to this blogger yesterday has returned to using the Le Mouvement Pour la France rather than his Libertas name.

It has been reported to this blogger that in recent weeks Jens Peter Bonde appeared to pull away from Libertas stating privately that Declan Ganley was not listening to him.


http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1212993.ece/Europese_partij_Libertas_zit_zonder_geld&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=ISO-8859-1


http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1212992.ece/Declan_Ganley_heeft_elk_contract_zelf_getekend&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=ISO-8859-1

70,638 reasons to be ashamed to be Irish

70,638 reasons to be ashamed to be Irish?
The number of voters in the NW who gave Declan Ganley a far right fascist political candidate their vote

Libertas can now crawl back into the hole they came out of but the Irish people who voted for Ganley should?