Moore walks from Irish Freedom Party

The Irish Freedom Party has lost its only elected representative in a seeming row over party direction.

In a week where the German far-right celebrated its best-ever set of election results, the Irish far-right continues its habit of in-fighting.

Glen Moore became the first member of the far-right party to win a seat in last June’s local elections, winning a seat in the Palmerstown-Fonthill constituency on South Dublin County Council.

The National Party won a seat on Fingal County Council last June in the form of Patrick Quinlan, while two independent councillors who were elected on explicit anti-immigrant platforms (Gavin Pepper and Malachy Steenson) won seats on Dublin City Council.

That relative success (4 local authority seats out of 949 nationwide) did not translate to November’s general election.

The Irish Freedom Party was not a member of the ill-fated National Alliance, which contested last November’s general election, failed to win a seat, received less than 20,000 votes nationwide and subsequently disbanded this week over internal disagreements.

The Irish Freedom Party itself received 0.6% of the vote nationwide, or less than 15,000 first preferences.

Moore himself contested the general election in November, failing to win a seat in Dublin Mid-West after receiving 3% of first preferences.

In a statement on Twitter on Thursday, Moore said, “I have formally resigned from the Ard Comhairle of the Irish Freedom Party and its membership.”

“The leader has lost his way, alienated members, and failed to uphold any integrity” and claimed “the party no longer serves its purpose.”

“I encourage fellow members to seek out other political parties that truly represent their values as I will be doing the same and extending my hand out to those that wish to have me and align with my values.

Party leader Hermann Kelly commented, “you have not been a party member for months. You’ve failed to attend council meetings and failed to put forward motions. We will find better quality members and representatives.”

In turn, Moore said, “thank God I haven’t, glad I didn’t pay 30 euros to the Herman Kelly party.”

“Most of my work I’m happy with direct responses from the council and motions related to immigration will not pass and is a of waste of tax payers time, not to mention the majority of motions is at the discretion of the CEO or contradicts laws further wasting time.”

“You would know this if you were successful during elections,” he remarked, a reference to Kelly himself failing to be elected in two separate European elections and one Dáil election. 

“My attendance is as expected; it is a time job, and councillors can’t attend every meeting. I’m a taxpayer and have to put bread on the table,” and alleged that Kelly is “funded by Andrew Tates’s fortune.”