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6 — village july 2009
’ defence of
Declan Ganley in the April edition of Village
is fascinating at several levels. Devotion to a
‘hero’ can be touching – Arnold’s paean to his
hero is merely cringe-making.
The most interesting aspect of Arnold’s ef-
forts is his claim that he has “checked the al-
legations” against Ganley. I doubt very much
that Arnold has done so. If he has there a cou-
ple of areas on which he could enlighten those
who have been attempting to probe the mys-
teries surrounding Mr Ganley, the Libertas or-
ganisation, its operations and true motives.
One of the most important functions of
the free press in Ireland is to provide a fo-
rum where journalists – ideally ones with a
far greater degree of integrity than has been
evidenced by Arnold in this case – can objec-
tively examine the claims made by those who
would wish to shape this country’s destiny.
Scrutiny may fall on anyone who seeks to
be a leader, representative or activist – elected
or otherwise – and Declan Ganley, for all his
millions, should be treated no differently from
others who seek public office.
The central argument presented by Arnold
appears to be built on logic of a very question-
able variety: Declan Ganley shouldn’t have to
answer any questions because other public fig-
ures have not – in Arnold’s opinion – been suf-
ficiently questioned in the past.
Arnold’s reference to unspecified “allega-
tions” against Ganley is laughable, given that
he has has been employed to write a book il-
luminating Ganley’s “political vision”.
The notion that this established relation-
ship with Ganley might have diminished his
journalistic impartiality does not appear to
have been entertained by Arnold.
Indeed as Arnold has in his words “checked
the allegations” against Ganley, there are a
few issues from the acres of material from Mr
Ganley’s self-promoted biography on which
Bruce might enlighten us all.
First there are Ganley’s claims that in
he was Foreign Economic Affairs Advi-
sor to the then Latvian Government – an im-
portant starting point in his biog. This ap-
pointment is supposed to have opened doors
for young Mr Ganley. The problem is that
the then Latvian PM denies the claim. Colm
Keena writing in The Irish Times has pointed
out that “people in Latvia who had made in-
quiries about Ganley at the time were unable
to find anyone who’d heard of him. Sources
in the Irish embassy in Warsaw, which was
accredited to Latvia, told The Irish Times
in it had become aware of the reports
about Ganley’s activities in Latvia, and had
made discreet inquiries. But no trace could
be found by the embassy of Ganley’s business
dealings in Latvia, or of his acting as an advi-
sor to the government”. Has Arnold any evi-
dence to contradict this?
During the period when Ganley claims
he was operating from Riga, an Irish citizen,
Michael Bourke was working for the IMF in
Riga. Mr. Bourke recalls meeting Ganley in
the city. His meeting with Ganley was dis-
cussed in some detail on the Prime Time pro-
gramme.
He told RTE, “the meeting is one I shall
never forget”. He said that he was involved
in international trade and that he would be
setting up his own bank ----- Ganley Interna-
tional Bank.
He said he would be getting a licence
from the Minister for Finance”. When asked
whether the bank ever materialised, Bourke
answered, “it did not” and went on to point out
that he had contacted the Latvian Ministry for
Finance shortly after speaking with Ganley
and asked whether they had any information
on a bank being opened
by an Irish citizen or on
application for a licence
by Ganley International
Bank. The response he
received was negative.
There was no evidence
or information on any
such venture. What is
Arnold’s view on this ?
Ganley’s claims re-
garding his activities
in Russia in the dying
period of the Soviet
system have been de-
scribed by experts of
that era as not capable
of holding water. Jan Urban the Czech jour-
nalist/ writer indelicately describes Ganley’s
claims as “bullshit”.
To recap the claims: Ganley claims, that in
his late teens / early s :-
he hit on the idea of insuring the launch
of western payloads into space on Russian
rockets.
he was been invited by the Russians to lead
a trade delegation to Moscow.
he “bagged” during the course of the trade
delegations visit, a valuable contract with the
“Scrutiny may fall on anyone
who seeks to be a leader,
representative or activist –
elected or otherwise – and
Declan Ganley, for all his
millions, should be treated no
Dick Roche
Bruce Arnold’s defence of Declan
Ganley was sycophantic.
d i c k r o c h e
7
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