An Irish parliamentarian has called for an inquiry into how Leave.EU was able to secure a web address that should have been reserved for European citizens following the revelation of the campaign group. The website was registered under the name of an Irish man Located on the waterboard.
Neil Richmond wrote a letter to Comreg, the Irish communications regulator, calling on the body to ensure that the company meets all the requirements for owning a .eu web domain.
“I’m very concerned about this move and I want to get assurances that this move is a fair way to sustain the web domain following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom. European union, ”Richmond’s letter continues.
When contacted by the Guardian, he said: “I see Leave EU as a bad organization with a dubious reputation that stimulates bile, often particularly driven. Ireland. I explore and ask about their functions and qualifications. ”
Along with his letter, Richmond shared examples of leave-in EU news, including tweets calling former Deutsche Leo Varadkar “EU laptop” and “childish” and calling Joe Biden an “Irish nationalist” who is “not a friend of Britain”.
Sean Power, an Irish businessman who appears on Leave.Eu’s domain record, insists he has never heard of the company.
“My lawyers are currently looking into this on my behalf and will be deemed necessary at the right time,” said Power, chief executive of Waterboard-based Business Services Group. “I have nothing to do with Leave.EU and have never heard of it before yesterday.”
Andy Wickmore, Liaison’s communications chairman, responded to Power and Richmond’s claims with a “good lal” smile of happiness with a face emoji.
Under EU law, domain names ending in .eu can only be owned by European citizens, or only by businesses and individuals based in Europe. Before Proxy, Wickmore had suggested that Leave EU could lose access to its domain name if it was not allowed to keep the relationship name between Britain and the EU. But this week, after the end of the UK transition period, domain registration records showed that the pro-Brexit campaign group had in fact transferred ownership to an Irish-based shell company, listed as Power’s email address contact.
