PROFILE: Declan Ganley, mystery man behind Lisbon no campaign

Jun 13, 2008, 12:45 GMT

Dublin - Declan Ganley, 39, the founder and president of The Libertas Institute, the 'pan European think-tank' that spearheaded the no vote on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty in Ireland, remains something of a mystery man.

Libertas states in its charter that it is 'a new European movement dedicated to campaigning for greater democratic accountability and transparency in the institutions of the EU.'

However, there has been a great deal of speculation regarding the links of the mysterious millionaire head of the group and where his funding comes from.

Ganley has claimed that donations to his campaign range from '5 euros (8 dollars) from a grandmother' to 5,000 euros from business people and that the group is fully compliant with the letter of the law. He has repeatedly refused to fully disclose its funding.

'I am funding it and so are a lot of other people. We have a donations facility online. We are collecting online donations. There are some wonderful people that are stepping forward and writing cheques,' he told the Irish Independent newspaper.

When asked what the campaign budget was, the Libertas chairman replied: 'As much as we need to spend.'

After the official independent Referendum Commission, Ganley's group was the biggest spender in the campaign, announcing it would spend 1.3 million euros. Some analysts believe the group spent far more.

In comparison the ruling Fianna Fail party was estimated to be spending around 700,000 euros in promoting a yes vote, the Irish Independent reported.

Until he emerged as the president of the Libertas, Ganley, a millionaire entrepreneur, was best known for his business activities, most of which are concentrated outside Ireland.

Ganley, who dresses immaculately in a three-piece suit and speaks with an English accent, was born in London. His Irish-born parents took the family back to live in rural County Galway in the West of Ireland when he was 13.

After school he went from working on construction sites in London to a lowly position in an insurance company before going on to build a business career.

From 1991, his CV states, 'he built what became the largest private forestry company in the Former Soviet Union, which he sold in 1997 to a consortium which included the Soros Group.'

He founded wireless broadband and cable TV businesses, in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, including Broadnet (sold to Comcast), building and operating broadband wireless networks in 10 EU countries, and Cabeltel, with an extensive cable multimedia network in Eastern Europe.

For a brief period in 1992, Ganley acted as a foreign economic affairs advisor to the Latvian government. He has also acted as economic affairs advisor to the regional government of Vologda (Russian Federation) in 1995/96.

His CV states that he 'was an advisor on technology and terrorism' to the Club De Madrid group of international heads of government and has served as a member of the Futures Group of the Irish government's Information Society Commission.

Much has been made of the fact that some companies with which Ganley is associated do business with the US military.

He is president of Rivada Networks, which supplies emergency communications networks to the US intelligence community.

This has led some in the yes camp and, indeed, on the no side, to portray him as a slightly sinister figure whose organization is being bankrolled by money from outside Ireland.

Ireland's satirical news magazine Phoenix has alleged that Ganley has 'extensive connections to the neo-con Republican administration' and has published an article alleging that he was also closely associated with companies involved in shady dealings in the attempt to win contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq.

Ganley claims that he is motivated by the fact that the Lisbon treaty is 'anti-democratic' and that it has already been rejected by tens of millions of people in France and the Netherlands in its previous guise as the draft constitution.

He also claims to be fearful that tax harmonization plans would scupper Ireland's economy, which is heavily dependent on its low-tax status and foreign investment.

Ganley's CV states that he is 'a recipient of the Louisiana Distinguished Service Medal for what was cited as his life-saving actions; delivering communications capability for the US military post Hurricane Katrina.'

Ganley lives in Galway and is married with four young children.