"UKIP should just go home"

In a press statement issued earlier today, Declan Ganley asked UKIP to leave the Irish political scene. It's obviously a tricky issue; the Irish decision will have implications for everyone in Europe, not just Ireland. Does that give the rest of us a right to interfere? Probably.

However, on a practical note, foreign interference is never welcome in politics, and the Libertas team in Ireland believe that UKIP is doing more harm than good by associating the NO campaign with UKIP's right wing image on top of looking like a bunch of foreigners telling the Irish how to vote.

Here's that statement in full:

The United Kingdom Independence Party should pack up its tent and go home, Libertas Leader Declan Ganley said this evening.

Mr. Ganley said that the intervention of the party was “every bit as unwelcome as the parade of Brussels mandarins that will be wheeled out over the coming weeks to lecture the Irish people”:

“We all know that a “Yes” to Lisbon will give the UK more of a say in our affairs – and we may well get a British President of the EU speaking on behalf of Irish people throughout the world – but this interference is unwarranted, unwelcome, unhelpful, and unnecessary” Mr. Ganley said.

“The Irish people showed the world in the first vote that they are not sheep, and will not be bullied. Mr. Farage’s intentions in arriving to these shores are known only to himself, but we do not need a foreign political party to tell us that our politicians are a bunch of arrogant clowns who won’t take no for an answer. We know it already, thanks very much”.

Ends