Profile:Declan Ganley (39), the public face of think tank Libertas which has come out against the treaty, is a Galway-based businessman and entrepreneur. His name arises from time to time in relation to large business projects, but he has not been known to have had involvement in any truly substantial Irish commercial business.
He was born in London of Irish parents and moved to Galway when he was 13. After finishing school he moved to London where after a period working in the insurance sector, he became involved in international business. He has remained so involved ever since.
He lives in a large old house in Moyne Park, near Tuam, the former residence of the singer Donovan. He is known to have hosted elaborate parties for Fianna Fáil during the Galway races in the 1990s, and once made a $25,000 contribution to a dinner in New York at which Bertie Ahern was the guest speaker. The extent to which he remains a supporter of the Fianna Fáil party is not known.
Over the years Mr Ganley has been associated with large forestry and mining activities in Russia and the Baltic states, a large gas field in Albania, communications projects in Europe, and television projects in Central America. He was also involved with "privatisation vouchers" in Albania in the 1990s.
However, the nature of his involvement in all these activities, and their profitability or otherwise, has always remained sketchy. Mr Ganley has told this newspaper that he receives backing from US investors. He has been associated with, among others, Gerald Manolovici, who was for a number of years head of emerging markets with the Soros Fund.
Mr Ganley has also been involved in a number of major bidding competitions in Ireland, including the 1995 competition that led to Esat Digifone being awarded the State's second mobile phone licence.
In that regard he is believed to be monitoring the progress of the Moriarty tribunal, with a view to possibly suing the State.
More recently Mr Ganley appeared before the Mahon tribunal. He was asked about the use of a £25,000 invoice dated February 1997 by the late Liam Lawlor and purportedly from his Ganley Group, to Frank Dunlop and Associates, for communications consultancy work in eastern Europe and the Balkans.
He said the invoice had not been authorised by his company - "It's fraudulent". He said he first met Mr Lawlor at the Galway races and later engaged him as a consultant to his "privatisation voucher" scheme in Albania.
Mr Lawlor, he said, was paid £30,000 for this work.
