Nigel Farage has said Irish eurosceptics should mobilise and field candidates in the next European elections, writes Stephen Murphy.
The former UKIP leader and current MEP was addressing the 'Irexit: Freedom To Prosper' conference at the RDS in Dublin, which was organised by his Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group in the European Parliament.
Mr Farage said he believed that pro-Irexit candidates can win votes from pro-EU politicians in the next European elections.
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He added that only elites in political and media circles in Dublin were firmly behind EU membership.
Fianna Fáil's Brexit spokesperson Stephen Donnelly called the idea of Irexit "empty rhetoric" and said that Brexit had made the UK "weaker and smaller".
European Movement Ireland's Executive Director Noelle O'Connell said: "Every single poll has shown overwhelming support for Ireland remaining an active and committed member of a reforming EU."
Hundreds of people attended the conference today, which also heard from TCD academic Anthony Coughlan who said the "EU is doomed".
The Director of the National Platform EU Research and Information Centre added Ireland should "take back control of our laws, our border, our currency, our neutrality".
Other speakers at the event were Dr Karen Devine from DCU, journalist John Waters and columnist Cormac Lucey.
Speaking on RTÉ's Marian Finucane programme earlier, Mr Farage said he does not think the EU has had much to do with Ireland's economic success.
He said Ireland "paid a very big price for joining the euro".
Mr Farage added: "You joined the euro; you finished up with interest rates that were half of what they should have been, a dramatic housing bubble and a huge national debt."
Yesterday at an event at Trinity College, Mr Farage said there was an appetite in Ireland to withdraw from the EU.
He said he does not agree with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's politics and that as far as Brexit is concerned, he thinks Mr Varadkar is putting his loyalty towards the European project above that of Irish people.
Mr Farage added the Taoiseach is very Pro-European "but if you take politics out of it he is a very good performer and speaker".
