The policies put forward by anti-Lisbon Treaty party Libertas could lead to Ireland being further marginalised, the Minister for Foreign Affairs claimed today.
Mr Martin's comments come after Declan Ganley announced Libertas as a pan-European party yesterday with an ambition to run candidates in all 27 EU states and turn next year's European elections into a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Irelandearlier today, the Minister for Foreign Affairs said the polices put forward by Libertas would only serve to marginalise Ireland.
In particular, Mr Martin criticised Mr Ganley's suggestion that all 500 million people in the European Union should be entitled to vote for the EU's president.
"I don't accept the propositions that Declan Ganley has put forward in relation to the European Union. I think he lacks depth, or his policies lack depth or substance and in fact, I think some of his policies are quite dangerous from an Irish perspective," said Mr Martin.
"His consistent view is that 500 million people should elect the president of Europe; that would marginalise Ireland and other countries with smaller populations to a very significant degree."
"The present institutional balance, where you have a strong commission which protects the rights of small countries, and where we have ministers at the table equal to any large country, and where we now have a commissioner at the table, same as any other country is a far better option than Declan Ganley has put forward," added Mr Martin.
Speaking at yesterday's press conference in Brussels, Mr Ganley said it would be best to run candidates in all EU states but conceded that the party's candidate list had not yet been agreed. He asked for volunteers across the EU to come forward.
On the question of his own candidacy, he said: "I'd like to; I haven't made the decision yet. This is not about me."
Mr Ganley said Libertas was a pro-European party that would offer electorates the chance to vote for a more democratic Europe. He said the Lisbon treaty, which had already been rejected by Irish, Dutch and French voters, would only enhance Euroscepticism across the union.
Mr Ganley stressed that the main purpose of Libertas was to highlight the lack of democracy and accountability in the EU. But he struggled to communicate other elements of the party's political programme.
He said he was not particularly enamoured of the policy of neutrality and that Libertas was a centrist, moderate organisation that would include members from the centre-left and centre-right. A full manifesto would be published in spring after a first party congress.
Fine Gael's spokeswoman on European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton said that the decision of Libertas to contest the forthcoming elections was a welcome development.
"We know what Sinn Féin stands for, we know what the Socialist Workers Party stands for, and now at last we may find out what Libertas actually stands for. For too long we have heard what it is against; now we will be able to see what it is in favour of."
