Libertas founder refuses to reveal list of donors
Thursday March 13 2008
The multi-millionaire head of a group campaigning for a No vote on the EU reform treaty has refused to say where it is getting its funding.
Declan J Ganley's Libertas group is already committed to spending more than €220,000 on its nationwide campaign on the EU referendum.
The entrepreneur said the donations to his campaign range from "€5 from a grandmother" to €5,000 from businesspeople and the group is complying with the letter of the law. "I am funding it and so are a lot of other people. We have a donations facility online. We are collecting online donations. There are some wonderful people that are stepping forward and writing cheques," he said.
When asked what the campaign budget was, the Libertas chairman replied: "As much as we need to spend."
Mr Ganley said his donors were reluctant for their names to be made public.
"There is a reticence understandably on the part of some in the business community to come forward for fear of basically being picked on or ostracised after the fact," he said.
But he said he was limited to donating €12,876, as he could only give €6,438 last year and this year. He said there were "hundreds" of people donating to the campaign.
"We're talking hundreds. These are donations from, you know, €5 from a grandmother to €5,000 from people who are in business," he said.
Libertas' campaign, called "Facts, not politics", says the Lisbon Treaty is a bad deal for Ireland and Europe.
Launching the Libertas campaign against the Lisbon Treaty yesterday, Mr Ganley said it would be helpful if the Government announced the exact date.
"Nobody in Libertas would argue that the European Union hasn't been successful. It's been hugely successful. If you are seriously pro-European, you cannot accept this treaty because it is a huge backward step for Europe and an even more backward step for Ireland," he said.
The group is planning a nationwide mail drop of 1.8 million leaflets costing €160,000, and a billboard campaign costing €62,000, along with other advertisements.
Relegates
Libertas says the Lisbon Treaty is bad for business as it hands foreign direct investment policy over to the EU, relegates the role of competition and provides a "back door" to increased taxation powers.
Mr Ganley wants a copy of the Lisbon Treaty distributed to every home in the country, e as happened inFrance before its referendum two years ago.
"This is what they are asking people to sign up to. Let's let everybody see what they are being asked to sign up to," he said.
Mr Ganley said he would have to check if Libertas had paid former Justice Minister Michael McDowell for some legal work he did for the group.
Meanwhile, veteran Independent TD Tony Gregory has joined the No side in the treaty campaign.
The long-serving TD added his name to the list of the patrons of a group called the People's Movement, chaired by former Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna, which is campaigning against the ratification of the treaty.
Mr Gregory was not available for comment.
- FIONNAN SHEAHAN
