NORTH-WEST RACE:LIBERTAS LEADER Declan Ganley has been accused by his Fine Gael opponent in the North-West constituency Senator Joe O'Reilly of "disgraceful" behaviour in claiming that his party was the only one concerned with fundamental moral issues.
Mr O’Reilly said that Fine Gael had always been committed to policies that respected human life, despite the claims of Mr Ganley, who is running in the same constituency.
“Mr Ganley talks about euthanasia and abortion like he is the only person who holds any moral ground on these issues, when in fact Fine Gael hold an impeccably high moral ground on all issues,” said Mr O’Reilly.
He added that Fine Gael has its roots in Christian democracy and its policies and beliefs reflected the ethos of that political movement which was pro-life in the deepest sense.
“Fine Gael in Europe is aligned to the European People’s Party (EPP) or the Christian Democrats, who are known for their Christian values and beliefs,” he said.
A Fine Gael spokesman said that the party’s position was that the dignity of the human being was central. “We regard the human being as the subject, not the object, of history. This brings us to respect human life in all its forms and at all stages, to respect human dignity in medical and genetic advancements.”
Mr O’Reilly said he wanted to assure people who might be inclined to vote for Libertas that Mr Ganley was not the only candidate in the North-West who was voicing Christian opinions.
“How dare he claim to be the only candidate in the North-West constituency with any high moral grounding; this is utterly disgraceful. He has no God-given right to declare a monopoly of integrity.”
Mr O’Reilly added that he had been involved directly with the EPP through his membership of the Council of Europe and had been very impressed with the way the organisation operated with Christian values at its core.
“One of Mr Ganley’s candidates in the Netherlands is avowedly pro-abortion, while he has tried to create the impression that he is the only candidate in the North-West constituency who is anti-abortion. That says a lot about his tactics,” said Mr O’Reilly.
He added that Mr Ganley was also trying to fool people into the belief that he was the only candidate committed to probity with regard to expenses in the EU when in fact Fine Gael and the EPP had been involved in pressing for reform of the system both at home and in Brussels.
“Another indication of the double standards being pursued by Mr Ganley is that while he is the alleged leader of a pan-European party, his candidates in Ireland East and Dublin are now beating the racist drum. That is also disgraceful,” he said.
