Libertas founder Declan Ganley announced last night he would stand as a candidate in the upcoming European elections in June.
He told supporters at the Glenloe Abbey Hotel in Galway last night of his campaign plans, which come after his battle against the Lisbon Treaty last year. Mr Ganley declared that he plans an exhaustive campaign in the constituency ahead of the June poll and hit out at the record of the larger parties.
“Nobody who puts themselves before the people has any right to expect to be elected, and I know that I have an uphill battle to win the trust of the people of Ireland North West over the next three months,” he said according to a supplied statement.
“With your help, I hope to visit every town and county in this constituency, meet as many people as I can, and bring our case to the people that we hope to represent.”
He said the state faced tough economic times and he attacked the record of the main parties. “Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour all have the same ideas,” he said.
“All of them want to raise your taxes, leaving you with less money to spend, leaving businesses with less income, and deepening the recession.” He said the political world needed new blood and he dismissed those politicians he said had attacked his campaigning record.
“We have to wake up in this country and realise that being in favour of Europe does not mean being in favour of everything Brussels wants,” he said.
“We campaigned against Lisbon not because we opposed Europe, but because we opposed its direction.
“We stood firm in the face of an onslaught of propaganda and pressure from Brussels... and we gave a considered, calm response to the Constitution... ‘Yes, we believe in the European Union... but not at any price’.
“A vote for us is not a vote against Brussels, it is a vote against those in Brussels who ignore you, don’t listen to you, and don’t care about you.”
He predicted his campaign would come under attack and added: “But our message is true. Our principles are correct. We are on the side of the people, not the establishment in Dublin. If we work hard, stay focused and make our case, we will win.”
Controversy has surrounded the funding of Libertas and links to Mr Ganley’s Rivada Networks Ltd to supplies telecommunications equipment to the military. The Standards in Public Office Commission said on Friday that Libertas had failed to provide adequate information to it over the funding of the Lisbon Treaty referendum campaign.
The Sipo report on “third parties” who participated in the campaign said that “despite a number of written and telephone reminders to Libertas, it has failed to provide the required information”.