LIBERTAS HAS accepted that it will be “virtually impossible” for it to play any role in the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and that the organisation’s existence is now in considerable doubt.
The newly formed political party, which styled itself as a pan-European movement, ran candidates in most of the 27 member states of the European Union in the European Parliament elections but won only one seat, in France where Philippe de Villiers retained one of three seats that had been held by his group, Mouvement Pour La France.
Libertas leader Declan Ganley failed to win a seat in the North West constituency. After his defeat, he said he would play no public part in any future Libertas campaign against the treaty.
The Libertas spokesman John McGuirk said yesterday that “95 per cent” of its staff have been let go after the election campaign as their contracts had expired. Its Brussels office run by its political director David Cochrane was also closed.
Mr McGuirk accepted that with regard to the second Lisbon referendum, the “timeline will be too challenging” for Libertas to mount a campaign.
However, he insisted that the movement had a future. That was privately disputed by two others who have been involved with Libertas since its inception, one of whom predicted “with absolute confidence that Libertas will not be around for Libertas Two.” For his part, Mr McGuirk said the group was now looking internally but insisted that it could survive.
“We suffered a hefty and disappointing reversal at the polls.
“It’s still alive. There is a faint heartbeat. We will need to take a couple of months and look at where we are going,” he said.
“Declan Ganley decided that he is not going to lead a campaign. We need to find a credible leader to be the face of the campaign, to look at raising the funds and formulating a position,” he added.
Asked would the organisation play any part in the forthcoming referendum campaign, Mr McGuirk said: “It’s probably unlikely. In all probability if Libertas does continue, it will take a year or two to regroup.
If there is a referendum within two to three months it will be virtually impossible to do it,” he said.
On the longer term future of the organisation, Mr McGuirk said that it would be difficult to rebuild a group with which Mr Ganley was synonymous. He said he did not know if any of the 2,000 to 3,000 people he said were involved with it were willing and capable of becoming leader.
Libertas, led by Mr Ganley, played a prominent role in the successful campaign against the first referendum on the Lisbon Treaty last year. There has been ongoing controversy over the extent of the funding of Libertas campaigns in addition to the source of the Co Galway businessman’s wealth.
Some commentators have estimated that Libertas spent as much as €30 million in various election campaigns across the European Union. Disputes have also arisen in several States, including the Netherlands and Spain, where local candidates and organisers claim they are owed funds promised by Mr Ganley and by Libertas. These claims have been disputed by him and by the group.
And in recent days, it has also emerged that the party’s candidate in Dublin Caroline Simons has sent a legal letter to Mr McGuirk accusing the Libertas spokesman of defaming her.
The dispute revolves around a press release issued in her name which described the Jewish organisation, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, as “beneath contempt.” Ms Simon claims that the press release was issued without her having sight of it or having her approval sought. It responded to a claim by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre that some Libertas candidates around Europe were “known as anti-Semites, homophones and anti-migrant racists”.