Declan Ganley doth protest too much

24 October 2008

by Cllr Joe Costello

Claims by Declan Ganley that Libertas has complied "to the letter" with political funding regulations smacks of somebody who 'doth protest too much'. We haven't seen his accounts yet, but his attitude of 'it will be alright on the night' is not very reassuring.

There are several significant questions that need to be cleared up. For example if, as he claims, the total budget for Libertas in the Lisbon Campaign was €800,000, how come the Institute of Advertising Practitioners estimated that the organisation spent in excess of €900,000 on advertising alone?

When and if he does submit Libertas's accounts for 2008, will we see a situation where, just like Mr Ganley's, other manifestation, Rivada Networks, Libertas will have to file a second set of accounts to correct serious falsehoods in the original set in the previous years accounts?

Are there other instances where money like the €200,000 that Mr Ganley "loaned" to Libertas will come to light?

It is not very reassuring that that Mr Ganley has had to admit so often to accounting and regulatory errors as well as omissions and mistakes that have been unearthed by independent sources. He should be coming clean and providing correct information in the first instance.