Ben Gilroy

Ben Gilroy
Leader of Liberty Republic
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 April 2024
Preceded byPat Greene
In office
November 2012 – 4 February 2014
Preceded byRaymond Whitehead
Succeeded byJan Van De Ven
Personal details
Born1967 or 1968 (age 56–57)
Raheny, Dublin, Ireland
Political partyLiberty Republic
Other political
affiliations		Independent (2019; 2021–2024)
Irish Freedom Party (2020)
SpouseSarah-Jane Gilroy
Children4
Residence(s)Navan, County Meath
Known forPolitical activism, anti-eviction activism
Websitebengilroy.ie

Bernard "Ben" Gilroy (born 1967 or 1968)[1] is an Irish political activist, anti-eviction campaigner and conspiracy theorist who has been leader of Liberty Republic (formerly Direct Democracy Ireland) since 2024, having previously served in this position from 2012 to 2014.[2]

Gilroy was once a campaigner against evictions and has been described as a "serial litigant" for his multiple legal actions taken against Irish banks, with AIB having successfully obtained a court order against him for continued frivolous lawsuits. During one of these court hearings, Gilroy threatened and abused the court in a written affidavit[3][4] and was charged with contempt of court as a result.[4] He was sentenced to 80 hours of community service but failed to attend.[4] As a consequence of his failure to attend the community service, he was subsequently sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment.[3][4]

Gilroy has been described by the Irish Times as a far-right political candidate.[5] He opposes abortion, Irish membership of the European Union and vaccinations, and has republished a number of conspiracy theories relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland.[6][7]

Having stood for election five times, Gilroy has never been elected to a political position. He unsuccessfully stood for the European Parliament twice; in the Midlands–North-West constituency in 2014 and in the Dublin constituency for the 2019 European Parliament election. He also unsuccessfully campaigned for a seat in the Dáil in the Meath East constituency in a 2013 by-election and 2016 general election, and as a candidate with the far-right Irish Freedom Party in the Dublin Bay North constituency at the 2020 general election.[7]

  1. ^ "Former election candidate appears in court for failing to make returns". Meath Chronicle. 23 October 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Leader of Direct Democracy steps down". Independent.ie. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Anti-eviction activist Ben Gilroy jailed for criminal contempt". irishexaminer.com. Irish Examiner. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Carolan, Mary (16 January 2019). "Anti-eviction activist Ben Gilroy jailed for three months". irishtimes.com. The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  5. ^ Gallagher, Conor. "Election 2020: Far-right candidates put in dismal showing". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Facebook acts as conspiracy theories on Covid in Ireland go viral". thetimes.co.uk. The Times. 31 January 2021. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021. Facebook disabled the Tiger Reborn page, which has promoted political activist Ben Gilroy under various guises for 10 years and had amassed 62,000 followers. Gilroy, an unsuccessful election candidate for the Irish Freedom Party, has appeared on videos on the page promoting anti-vaccine and anti-mask messages [...] Yesterday Gilroy said he [...] shared an "awful lot of stuff" on his personal page for "open debate"
  7. ^ a b "'The Infodemic': Ireland's weak far-right hopes to gain from online conspiracies and misinformation". thejournal.ie. Journal Media Ltd. 19 September 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2021.