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==Visit of President Klaus== ==Visit of President Klaus==
On Tuesday 11 November 2008, Ganley hosted a private dinner in honour of ], the president of the ] who was on a state visit to Ireland.<ref name="IT081113">, ''The Irish Times'', 13 November 2008</ref> Other guests included French MEP ] of the ], Austrian MEP ], Denmark's ], and Poland’s ].<ref name="IT081113" /> The AP press associatiion reported that Irish Foreign Minister ] called some of Klaus's views "ridiculous, shallow and bogus". According to the ''Prague Daily Monitor'' a a STEM poll revealed that "three-fourths of Czechs believe that President Vaclav Klaus should not present his private views abroad regardless of the government's position, and a half of them say Klaus, with his opinions, harms the image of the Czech Republic"<ref>, ČTK, 18 November 2008</ref> President Klaus described the Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Martin as being a "hypocrite" while the junior Minister for European Affairs stated that Klaus' remarks on his state visit were "stomach churning" and "gratuitously insulting".<ref> ''Sunday Independent'', 16 November 2008</ref> On Tuesday 11 November 2008, Ganley hosted a private dinner in honour of ], the president of the ] who was on a state visit to Ireland.<ref name="IT081113">, ''The Irish Times'', 13 November 2008</ref> Other guests included French MEP ] of the ], Austrian MEP ], Denmark's ], and Poland’s ].<ref name="IT081113" /> Vaclav Klaus is eurosceptic and opposed to the Lisbon Treaty.

===Joint Oireachtas Committee===
Ganley appeared at a ] on Ireland's Future in the EU comprising members of both houses of the Irish parliament giving his views and being asked questions by Irish ]s and Senators.<ref name="PA081118">, 2008-11-18</ref><ref></ref> The committee is hearing presentations from those who opposed and supported the Lisbon treaty and people to air their views on Ireland's interaction with the European Union. The meeting was heated at points; PA reports that Ganley threw his copy of the Lisbon Treaty on the floor.<ref name="PA081118" /> At one point, the chairman threatened to halt the session in order to maintain order.<ref name="PA081118" /> Mr Ganley spoke strongly against the Lisbon Treaty warning politicians not to hold a second referendum to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.<ref name="ti-081119">, ''The Independent'', 19 November 2008</ref> He advocated throwing away the Lisbon Treaty and said that Europe needs a constitution of no more than 25 pages which needs to be upfront and honest in what it sets out to achieve<ref name="ti-081119" /> and that all of Europe must be given a vote on it.<ref>, ''Belfast Telegraph'', 18 November 2008</ref>


==Legal threats to Irish politicians== ==Legal threats to Irish politicians==

Revision as of 08:20, 13 May 2009

Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968, Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom) is an Irish entrepreneur, businessman and political activist. He is founder and current chairman for the pan-European political party Libertas and candidate to the European Parliament Elections 2009 in the constituency of North West Ireland. Declan Ganley has started companies in forestry, telecommunications and the internet and is currently serving as chairman of the board of Rivada Networks. During the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty Declan Ganley and Libertas campaigned for a No-vote.

British-born of Irish parents, he returned with his parents to live in Glenamaddy, County Galway, Republic of Ireland, at the age of 13, and today lives in Abbeyknockmoy, County Galway with his American wife Delia and their four young children.

Early life

Ganley had difficulty in adapting to the Irish school system as he did not speak Irish and went no further than the Leaving Certificate.

After leaving school, he initially worked on building sites in London but soon found a job as a tea boy at an insurance company. His business life started soon afterwards when he moved to the Soviet Union. He traded in Soviet aluminium which he shipped to Rotterdam via Latvia.

Business life

Ganley is former CEO and current Chairman of Rivada Networks, in the industry for emergency telecommunications. In the past, he has been involved in business ventures selling Russian aluminium and in the Latvian forestry sector. In the early 1990s Mr Ganley founded Kipelova Forestry Enterprises which became one of the largest forestry companies in the Russian Federation. He sold the company in 1997. In 1996, his company Ganley International founded the Anglo-Adriatic Investment Fund, an Albanian financial fund formed to collect and invest privatisation vouchers. Back in Ireland, Ganley had owned the high-profile jewellery website, Adornis.com, which collapsed after the downturn in the technology sector. A 2006 interview in CNBC’s European Business magazine suggested Ganley had a personal worth of €300 million.

Libertas

Declan Ganley is the founder and current Chairman of the pan-european political party Libertas and candidate for Libertas in the European Parliament election, 2009 in North West Ireland.Libertas started in 2006 as a lobby group campaigning for a No-vote to the Lisbon Treaty in the Irish Referendum 12 June 2008, and has evolved into a pan-european political movement. Libertas are running for the European Parliament election, 2009. in 20 European countries. In Rome 1 May 2009 Libertas held its first Party Congress.

Libertas core values are democracy, transparency and accountability.

Liam Lawlor and the Mahon Tribunal

Declan Ganley gave evidence before the Mahon Tribunal officially called the "Tribunal of Inquiry Into Certain Planning Matters and Payments" on 27 September 2007. On the last day of the hearings, 29 October 2008, evidence of the late Liam Lawlor, who died in a car crash in Moscow, was read into the record by Senior Counsel for the tribunal Pat Quinn. Lawlor had stated that "he received £30,000 in political contributions from Declan Ganley’s business, Ganley International, in 1996.". According to The Irish Times report of the proceedings "Mr Quinn also said an invoice dated February 1997 from Mr Ganley’s business, with an address at 128 Mount Street, London, W1K 3NU, was used by Mr Lawlor when providing documentation to cover for a £25,000 payment from the lobbyist and former Fianna Fáil election agent, Frank Dunlop." In his own evidence before the tribunal on 27 September 2008, Ganley said that he had employed Lawlor as a consultant in the 1990s to lobby the Albanian government on behalf of Ganley International. Ganley International subsidiary Anglo-Adraitic Investment Fund was involved in the turbulent Albanian financial market in the 1990s. He also stated that the Ganley International invoice which Lawlor presented to Dunlop was a forgery and not a Ganley International invoice. In his evidence before the tribunal, Dunlop confirmed that he had received this invoice from Lawlor.

US Foreign Policy Research Institute

Ganley has written an article for an American think tank. Ganley's first mention of 'Libertas' was in a paper, Constitutional Treaty; A Threat to Democracy and How to Avoid it, that he wrote for the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The FPRI was founded by Robert Strausz-Hupé, a former US Ambassador and foreign policy adviser to Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon.

Visit of President Klaus

On Tuesday 11 November 2008, Ganley hosted a private dinner in honour of Václav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic who was on a state visit to Ireland. Other guests included French MEP Philippe de Villiers of the "Mouvement Pour La France", Austrian MEP Hans-Peter Martin, Denmark's Jens-Peter Bonde, and Poland’s Dariusz Sobkow. Vaclav Klaus is eurosceptic and opposed to the Lisbon Treaty.

Legal threats to Irish politicians

In the last week of November 2008, Ganley's solicitors issued threats of legal action to Irish politicians, including Joe Costello of the Labour Party. This follows comments by Costello regarding Libertas funding. According to the Irish Times "Mr Ganley has threatened to sue Mr Costello for substantial damages, following Mr Costello's charge that the Libertas founder has "a subversive foreign agenda"."

See also

References

  1. About Declan Ganley, Libertas.eu:
  2. What will international man of mystery Declan Ganley do next? SundayTribune. June 15, 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  3. Profile: Declan Ganley. TimesOnline, May 25, 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  4. "Declan J. Ganley". www.rivada.com. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  5. ^ Daly, Gavin (2006-03-19). "US magazine claims Ganley set to become billionaire". The Sunday Business Post.
  6. ^ CNBC Profile of Declan Ganley retrieved 2 November 2008
  7. ^ Declan Ganley - The King of 45 000 Albanian ShareHolders, Albanian Canadian League Information Service
  8. About Libertas, http://libertas.eu/en/about-us/origins
  9. http://libertas.eu/en/policies
  10. The Irish Times 30 October 2008
  11. Liam Lawlor Obituary by David McKittrick The Independent, 24 October 2005
  12. Irish Times Breaking News, 29 October 2008, Retrieved 2 November 2008
  13. ^ "MT280907.ecl" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-10-27. Evidence of Frank Dunlop and Declan Ganley at Flood Tribunal, 28 September 2007 Cite error: The named reference "flood-tribunal1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  14. The Rise and Fall of Albania's Pyramid Schemes by Christopher Jarvis, Finance and Development, March 2000, Volume 37, Number 1, retrieved 2 November 2008
  15. ^ Ganley, Declan (2003). "Europe's Constitutional Treaty: A Threat to Democracy and How to Avoid It". Foreign Policy Research Institute. Retrieved 2008-05-30. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  16. New York Times, 26 February 2002
  17. ^ Ganley's dinner party was a meeting of minds, The Irish Times, 13 November 2008
  18. "Ganley threatens to sue Labour TD over Libertas allegations", The Irish Times 1 December 2008

External links

Libertas
Movement
European political party
Lobby group
European political foundation
  • Libertas Foundation
Timeline
See also
People
Staff
Election advisers
Members of member partiesSee List of 2009 candidates
Members of affiliated partiesSee List of 2009 candidates
Individual members
Disavowed people
Parties
Member parties
Affiliated parties
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Greece
Latvia
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Spain
Disavowed parties
Elections
2009 lists
Key
1Member parties are members of Libertas.eu. Members of member parties are automatically members of Libertas.eu unless they choose otherwise.
2Affiliated parties are not members of Libertas.eu but are otherwise associated. Members of affiliated parties are not members of Libertas.eu unless they choose to join as individuals.
3Parties presenting as Libertas.eu affiliates/members but not sanctioned by Libertas.eu when presentation commenced.

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