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Declan Ganley

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Declan James Ganley
Chairman of Libertas
Personal details
Born (1968-07-23) 23 July 1968 (age 56)
Watford, Hertfordshire,
United Kingdom
Political partyLibertas

Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is a British-born [1] Irish citizen, entrepreneur, businessman and political activist.[2][3][4][5] He is founder and chairman of a political party, Libertas with pan-European ambitions. The party was unsuccessful in this ambition in the 2009 European Parliament Election, succeeding in getting only one of the hundreds of candidates elected, in France.

Ganley himself was unsuccessful in this election, securing less than 10% of the valid poll. Ganley has started companies in forestry, telecommunications and the Internet and is currently serving as chairman of the board of Rivada Networks. During the 2008 Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, Ganley and the Libertas Institute campaigned for a No vote.[6]

Personal life

Ganley was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, of Irish parents. He returned with his parents to live in Glenamaddy, County Galway, Ireland, at the age of 13, and today lives in Abbeyknockmoy, County Galway with his American wife Delia and their four young children.[7]

Business life

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.[3]

Ganley is former CEO and current Chairman of Rivada Networks,[8] a US-based firm specialising in the provision of telecommunications systems to the military, police and emergency services in disaster situations.[9] In the past, he has been involved in business ventures selling Russian aluminium and in the Latvian forestry sector.[10] In the early 1990s Mr Ganley founded Kipelova Forestry Enterprises which became one of the largest forestry companies in the Russian Federation.[11][12] He sold the company in 1997.[11] In 1996, his company Ganley International founded the Anglo-Adriatic Investment Fund, an Albanian financial fund formed to collect and invest privatisation vouchers.[12] It was unsuccessful in its attempts to reinvest these vouchers, and collapsed. 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.[13] Declan Ganley also has investments in a joint venture with Nana Pacific called Rivada Pacific.[14] Rivada Päcific has contracts worth $240 million with the US Military.[14][15][16] He is Chairman of Rivada Networks and recently appointed former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Meyers to the board.[9][17] In May 2011 Ganley set up a Swiss finance fund St. Columbanus AG with businessman and academic Constantin Gurdgiev and Andrew Jamieson. Ganley makes regular TV and radio appearances in Ireland, occasionally alongside his business partner Gurdgiev. Both promote a continuation of capitalism and free market ideology and are critical of the anti-capitalism of the Occupy movement.

Libertas

Declan Ganley is the founder and current Chairman of the pan-European political party Libertas and was a 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 evolved into a pan-European political movement. Libertas ran candidates in 20 European countries for the European Parliament election, 2009. In Rome on 1 May 2009 Libertas held its first Party Congress.[18]

Libertas' political policies call for greater levels of democracy, transparency, and accountability within the EU, as well as a twenty five page alternative to the Lisbon Treaty.[19] The origin of the party's funding has been questioned.[20][21][22] It was reported that Ganley personally loaned the party €200,000 for the Lisbon Treaty Campaign.[23][24] In 2008 it was reported that the European Union was set to ask US Congress about Libertas funding.[25]

Organizers of the Libertas parties in different member states have complained that Declan Ganley seemed unwilling to pay them the money he promised, even though they spent a considerable part of this money on their election campaigns.[26]

Candidacy to the European Parliament

On 14 March 2009 at a press interview Ganley announced his candidacy to the European Parliament, for Libertas in the North–West constituency.[27] Until 1 May 2009 Ganley travelled all over Europe to campaign against the Lisbon Treaty, and helped local Libertas branches. On 1 May 2009 Libertas held their first Party Congress and afterwards he focused his campaign on the North–West constituency, canvassing, attending public speeches and debates and appearing on radio and TV. One week after he launched his election campaign, incumbent MEP Jim Higgins branded Ganley as a 'puppet of the US military'.[28] In a pre-election opinion poll Ganley polled 9% of first preference votes in the North–West Constituency.[29] On 8 June 2009 he polled over 13% but did not gain a seat in the European Parliament.[30] Ganley then announced his withdrawal from politics.[31]

Second Lisbon Treaty Referendum

In September 2009 Declan Ganley announced he would campaign against the second referendum to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.[32] He took part in a televised debate, where he argued with the head of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary who was campaigning in favour of the treaty. During the launch of its posters for the campaign, Ganley was ambushed by a group of young Fianna Fáil members who disrupted the launch. The Irish electorate ratified the Lisbon Treaty and Ganley announced that he would take some time to consider his future in politics.[citation needed]

The Danish Frode Jakobsen prize of 2008 ('for unusual personal courage') was awarded to Declan Ganley, because of this campaign.

Euroscepticism

The political platform of Libertas and affiliated political parties has generally been conservative and eurosceptic. His personal opposition to the Lisbon Treaty reinforced this view. He claims, however, not to advocate withdrawal from the EU[33].

In contrast to his former stance, an article by Declan Ganley was published in the Irish national press in November 2011 calling for much greater EU integration and the formation of a federal union[34]. The proposal included the establishment of a merged, directly elected EU executive; rebalancing democratic representation proportionally for European Parliament seats, and degressively for both the election of the EU executive, and a proposed new upper house; a constitutional debt ceiling; and refinancing of defaulting member states' debt through the issue of EU bonds (although stopping short of mentioning any tax-raising powers).

See also

References

  1. ^ Hennessy, Mark (September 22, 2008). "Nationality of Libertas founder was listed as British in UK records". Irish Times. I am an Irishman, and I resent anybody trying to tell me that I am not.
  2. ^ Hawkins, Ross; Wheeler, Brian (8 May 2009). "Libertas chief sets out Euro stall". BBC News Online.
  3. ^ a b Webster, Ben (May 25, 2008). "Profile: Declan Ganley". Sunday Times. London.
  4. ^ http://blogs.ft.com/brusselsblog/2009/03/fiendish-declan-ganley-prepares-to-spoil-another-eu-party/
  5. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jq18p/HARDtalk_Declan_Ganley_founder_and_president_Libertas/
  6. ^ "Anti-Lisbon treaty campaign is launched". RTÉ News. 12 March 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  7. ^ 'What will international man of mystery Declan Ganley do next?' Sunday Tribune. June 15, 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  8. ^ "Declan J. Ganley". www.rivada.com. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  9. ^ a b de Bréadún, Deaglán (March 11, 2009). "Ganley appoints defence industry figures to communications company". Irish Times.
  10. ^ Daly, Gavin (2006-03-19). "US magazine claims Ganley set to become billionaire". The Sunday Business Post.
  11. ^ a b [1] CNBC Profile of Declan Ganley retrieved 2 November 2008
  12. ^ a b Declan Ganley - The King of 45 000 Albanian ShareHolders, Albanian Canadian League Information Service
  13. ^ http://cnbceb.com/people-profiles/declan-ganley/421/1/
  14. ^ a b Keena, Colm (October 22, 2008). "Accounts detail Ganley's stake in US firm". Irish Times.
  15. ^ http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?fiscal_year=&company_name=Rivada+Pacific&sortby=r&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&detail=3&submit=GO Fed Spending Rivada Contracts
  16. ^ Keena, Colm (October 29, 2008). "Ganley's US contracts could be worth €240m". Irish Times.
  17. ^ http://www.rivada.com/7130879/aboutus-keypersonnel.htm Rivada Networks Website Key Personnel
  18. ^ About Libertas, http://libertas.eu/en/about-us/origins
  19. ^ http://libertas.eu/en/policies
  20. ^ "Why secrecy over Libertas funding?". Irish Independent. 8 September 2008.
  21. ^ Keena, Colm (December 6, 2008). "Ganley fails to provide clarity on Libertas loan". Irish Times.
  22. ^ http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/ireland/politics/rivada-networks-not-funding-libertas-no-campaign-13879617.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. ^ Smyth, Jamie (September 23, 2008). "MEPs seeking source of Libertas funding". Irish Times.
  24. ^ Keena, Colm; Hennessy, Mark (September 25, 2008). "More information on funding of Libertas given by Ganley". Irish Times.
  25. ^ Crosbie, Judith (September 26, 2008). "EU set to ask US Congress about Libertas fundraising". Irish Times.
  26. ^ Dirks, Bart (11 June 2009). "Europese partij Libertas zit zonder geld" (in Dutch). de Volkskrant. Retrieved 2009-06-11. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  27. ^ Declan Ganley announces EP candidacy
  28. ^ Guidera, Anita (23 March 2009). "Ganley is branded a 'puppet of US military'". Irish Independent.
  29. ^ Loscher, Damian (May 16, 2009). "Drop in support for FF may not benefit FG". Irish Times.
  30. ^ http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=2009E&cons=241
  31. ^ "Ganley bows out of politics as Kelly sees off Sinnott". The Irish Times. 6 June 2009.
  32. ^ Ganley attacks Yes campaign's 'half-truths', Deaglán de Bréadún and Eithne Donnellan, The Irish Times, 14 September 2009, retrieved 16 September 2009
  33. ^ McDonald, Henry (13 June 2008). "'I have witnessed how inherently undemocratic socialism was, and that is why I don't want an overweening EU'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  34. ^ "Europe must form a fully federal union or it will fall apart completely". Irish Independent. November 13 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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