Christian Solidarity Party

Christian Solidarity Party Comhar Críostaí
Leader	Cathal Loftus
Founded	1991
Headquarters	14 North Frederick Street, Dublin 1
Ideology	Social conservatism, Communitarianism
Political position	Right-wing
Colours	Lemon yellow
Website
www.comharcriostai.org
Politics of the Republic of Ireland Political parties Elections

The Christian Solidarity Party (Irish: Comhar Críostaí) is a minor political party in the Republic of Ireland. It has no representation at local or national level. Founded in 1991 as the Christian Principles Party, it stood candidates in the 1991 local elections. It was reformed as the Christian Centrist Party and ran candidates in the 1992 general election receiving 0.2% of first preference votes. It was renamed in 1994 to incorporate the word "Solidarity" following a mutual pledge of support between the party and the conservative advocacy group, Family Solidarity. It contested its first election in the Cork South–Central by-election, 1994 - Catherine Kelly^[1] received 1,704 (4.0%) of the first preference vote. The CSP took part in the 1997 general election and has contested each General Election, and a number of other by-elections since then. It has also fielded candidates in Local and European Parliament elections since its foundation.

Ideology

It is orthodox to Christian teachings and principles, and its main proposals are based upon traditional, and unequivocal, pro-life natalism. The party promotes traditional family values and campaigns against marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.^[2][3] The Party has made written and oral submissions to various Oireachtas committees regarding proposed legislation on such family and social issues,^[4] as well as on other issues such as Seanad reform.^[5] The party describes itself as follows:

The Christian Solidarity Party is dedicated to the causes of Life, the Family and the Community. The CSP promotes policies that safeguard the value of human life from conception to natural death, that support the position of the family as the fundamental unit group of society, and that allow human communities to flourish in a manner consistent with human dignity.

The party also campaigned against the announced closure of Ireland's embassy to the Vatican in 2011 and held a small demonstration outside of Leinster House.^[6]

Prominent members (as of 2011)

The current leader is party president Cathal Loftus.^[7] Richard Greene, its former leader, stepped down on 13 December 2012.^[8] No longer active is Dr.Gerard Casey, who was the founder and led the party initially. The Dublin Central candidate, Paul O'Loughlin, has been featured in the party's election broadcast.

Election history

2011 general election

The party nominated eight candidates in the 2011 general election five in Dublin and one each in Limerick, Meath and Cork.^[9]

• Paul O'Loughlin^[10] (Dublin Central)
• Michael Larkin^[11]</ref> (Dublin North–West)
• Jane Murphy^[12] (Dublin South)
• Colm Callanan^[13] (Dublin South–Central)
• Daire Fitzgerald^[14] (Dún Laoghaire)
• Conor O'Donoghue^[15] (Limerick City)
• Manus MacMeanmain^[16] (Meath West)
• Harry Rea^[17] (Cork North–Central)

At the party's election launch news conference conducted by new leader, Richard Greene stated that the party will campaign on a pro-life and what it calls a 'Euro-Realist' platform and that it will oppose making the poor pay for the economic crisis.^[18][19]

The party's Meath West candidate, Manus MacMeanmain (who polled 0.6% of first preference votes) was reportedly unhappy that the Christian Solidarity Party's logo was not present on the ballot paper, and claimed that the image that was used looked like "a bunch of nuts".^[20][21]

The party polled 0.1% of the votes and no deposits were saved.

2009 local elections

For the 2009 local elections, they fielded candidates in 13 constituencies. They were:

• Paul O'Loughlin^[22] (North Inner City, Dublin City Council)
• Clare Flynn^[23] (Ballinasloe, Galway County Council))
• Conor O'Donoghue^[24] (Limerick City Council North)
• Colm Callanan^[25] (Crumlin-Kimmage, Dublin City Council. 5 LEAs for Laois County Council: Borris-in-Ossory, Emo, Luggacurran, Mountmellick, Portlaoise and 4 LEAs for Offaly County Council: Birr, Edenderry, Ferbane and Tullamore)^[26]

None were elected, and none received their election expenses.

2007 general election

The CSP ran seven candidates - two women and five men - in the 2007 election. None were successful and all lost their deposits. Party leader Cathal Loftus received 210 votes in Dublin North, 0.38% of the votes and came last out of eight candidates. Paul O'Loughlin, the party's best-performing candidate, who had recently appeared on the party's party election broadcast, scored just 260 votes in Dublin Central, with 0.75% of the vote. The party as a whole scored 0.06% of the total national vote. The party candidates included:

• Mary Doherty^[27] (Donegal North–East)
• Clare Flynn^[28] (Galway East)
• Paul O'Loughlin^[29] (Dublin Central)
• Colm Callanan^[30] (Dublin Mid–West)
• Michael Redmond^[31] (Dublin South–Central)
• Conor O'Donoghue^[32] (Limerick East)^[33]

None were elected.

2004 European Parliament election

In the 2004 European Parliament election, the CSP announced it had no plans to run, but later announced Barry Despard^[34] as a candidate. He came ninth of twelve candidates in the Dublin constituency with 5,352 first-preference votes, or 1.3% of the valid poll.

2002 general election

In the 2002 general election, the CSP ran 19 candidates, between the ages of 22 and 82. Some ran in more than one constituency. They spent €12,284.71 on the campaign. The party polled 0.26% of the vote. No candidates were elected, all losing their deposits.

• Tony Smith^[35] Cavan–Monaghan - 358 FP votes
• Derek J Whelan^[36] Clare - 176 FP votes
• Patrick Manning^[37] Cork East - 187 FP votes
• Gerry Duffy^[38] Cork North–Central - 215 FP votes
• Gerry Duffy^[39] Cork North–West - 383 FP votes
• Paul O'Loughlin^[40] Dublin Central - 366 FP votes
• Colm Callanan^[41] Dublin Mid–West - 107 FP votes
• David Walshe^[42] Dublin North - 247 FP votes
• Michael Larkin^[43] Dublin North–West - 154 FP votes
• Darragh O'Reilly^[44] Dublin South–West - 760 FP votes
• John Smyth^[45] Dublin West - 134 FP votes
• Michael Redmond^[46] Dún Laoghaire - 265 FP votes
• Manus MacMeanmain^[47] Galway East - 93 FP votes
• Michael Redmond^[48] Laois–Offaly - 142 FP votes
• Conor O'Donoghue^[49] Limerick East - 86 FP votes
• Patrick O'Riordan^[50] Limerick West - 144 FP votes
• Brian Lenehan^[51] Longford–Roscommon - 80 FP votes
• Michael Maguire^[52] Louth - 79 FP votes
• Michael Redmond^[53] Meath - 180 FP votes
• John Lacken^[54] Sligo–Leitrim - 166 FP votes
• Michael Larkin^[55] Tipperary South - 120 FP votes
• Patrick Walsh^[56] Westmeath - 126 FP votes
• Michael O'Connor^[57] Wexford - 173 FP votes

1999 European Parliament election

In the 1999 European Parliament election, party leader Gerard Casey^[58] contested the Dublin constituency. He finished 10th out of 13 candidates with 9,425 first preference votes (3.36%). He lost his deposit.

1997 general election

In the 1997 General Election, the CSP fielded 8 candidates and polled 0.5% of the vote. No candidates were elected. All lost their deposits.

• Gene Flood^[59] Cavan–Monaghan - 1024 FP votes (1.72%)
• Larry McGinn^[60] Cavan–Monaghan - 1001 FP votes (1.68%)
• Joe Aston^[61] Clare - 499 FP votes (1.06%)
• Eddie Mullins^[62] Cork North–Central - 777 FP votes (1.77%)
• Angela Keaveney^[63] Dublin North - 666 FP votes (1.62%)
• Gerard Casey^[64] Dún Laoghaire - 2,000 FP votes (3.69%)
• Brian Curran^[65] Meath - 1,031 FP votes (1.82%)
• John Lacken^[66] Sligo–Leitrim - 1,359 (3.01%)

By-elections

• Dublin Central by-election, 2009 - Paul O'Loughlin^[67] - 203 FP votes (0.7%)
• Tipperary South by-election, 2000 - Mary Heaney^[68] - 784 FP votes (2.6%)
• Dublin South–Central by-election, 1999 - Manus MacMeanmain^[69] - 399 FP votes (2.0%)
• Dublin North by-election, 1998 - Angela Keaveney^[70] - 565 FP votes (1.7%)
• Dublin West by-election, 1996 - Gerard Casey^[71] 768 FP votes (2.7%)
• Cork South–Central by-election, 1994 - Catherine Kelly^[72] 1,704 FP votes (4.0%)

Lisbon Treaty

The Christian Solidarity Party campaigned against the Lisbon Treaty referenda.^[73] The party also made submissions to the Oireachtas committee on Ireland's future in Europe after the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty by the first vote. Some members participated in the Cóir campaign and in other anti-Lisbon treaty campaigns.

Children's Rights Referendum

The Christian Solidarity Party campaigned, along with a number of other conservative groupings and individuals, for a No vote in the Children's Rights Referendum.^[74]

The party claimed that the constitutional amendment would give too much power and responsibility to the State with regard to children, with Richard Greene stating that "[t]he real agenda is to dismantle parents’ authority to protect their children, especially teenagers, and to increase State control...it could see the law deciding, for example, how far parents may monitor text messages or internet use to protect their children from bullying".^[75]

References

External links

• Party website
• Christian Solidarity Party — from the Irish Times guide to the 2002 election
• 2007 Christian Solidarity Party Political Broadcast

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