Éirigí, the purportedly pacifist nationalist group that positions itself to the left of Sinn Féin, has officially registered as a political party.

And as the left-wing group grows, the Progressive Demo­crats and Libertas have officially left the political stage.

The Sunday Tribune has learned that the fledgling party, which has already managed to entice a number of former Sinn Féin councillors into its ranks, has been formally recognised as a political party by the Clerk of the Dáil.

Éirigí is just one of the 17 parties to appear on the latest Register of Political Parties compiled by Kieran Coughlan, the Clerk of the Dáil.

Party leader Brian Leeson, along with Breandán Mac Cionnaith, the former prominent Sinn Féin figure and spokesman for the Garvaghy Road residents' group during the Drumcree Orange March crisis, Ciaran Heaphey and Joanne McDonald are Éirigí 's officers who are authorised to sign candidates' certificates at election time, according to the registrar.

Formed in April 2006, on the 90th anniversary of the 1916 rising, as a dissenting voice against the republicanism of Sinn Féin, Éirigí has a few hundred members on both sides of the border.

Party activists are a common feature at many protests such as the Shell to Sea protests in Mayo and last year's lock-in at the Thomas Cook travel agents in Dublin city centre.

Declan Ganley's Libertas is an interesting omission from the 2010 registrar and this provides an indication that Ganley has no intention of contesting elections here following last autumn's ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

The Progressive Demo­crats have also been finally removed from the registrar following a protracted process of disbanding the party.