Cóir

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Cóir was a Catholic, conservative and Eurosceptic lobby group in Ireland. It formed to campaign against the Lisbon Treaty during the 2009 referendum held on October 2, 2009. The group said it had about 2,600 volunteers in the six months before the vote and that it might become a political party to fill a gap in Irish politics. It described itself as independent, with members from different backgrounds, and it was more conservative than other “No” campaigns against the treaty.

Its ideas mixed traditional Catholic beliefs with Irish republican ideas, and economically it was centre-left. It also supported tighter immigration controls during times of economic trouble. Richard Greene, a former Fianna Fáil member and former Green Party councillor, acted as spokesman, along with others like Niamh Uí Bhriain and Peter Murphy.

Cóir advertised in newspapers such as Alive! and Irish Family Press, wrote letters, and had opinion pieces in the Irish Times. Its members appeared on radio and TV, and they campaigned against a second Lisbon Treaty referendum.

Greene, Uí Bhriain, and Murphy spoke to a European Affairs sub-committee and Greene accused the committee of treason for not upholding the vote. In 2008, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the group was a “front organisation” for the anti-abortion Youth Defence. Cóir shared a building on Capel Street in Dublin with Youth Defence and the Pro-Life Alliance, and some religious groups criticized its stance on the Lisbon Treaty.