Am I the only person in Ireland who doesn’t think Declan Ganley is the devil incarnate? I am perplexed by the recent Aine Lawlor interview and the Primetime hit job on him tonight. And I use the phrase hit job because that’s all it seemed to be. It looked like something Fox News would be proud of.
I have no particular love or hate for Libertas, or for Ganley himself. I’m actually pretty neutral on the whole thing. Yes he campaigned in favour of a No vote at Lisbon, a position with which I agreed. But that’s sort of besides the point.
The question that RTE seem to be posing is that Ganley is somehow a different political animal than what we’re used to. That his funding is somehow mysterious. That he has connections – horror of horrors – to making money from the US military industrial complex.
Maybe I’m the only one. But I don’t see the big deal about this. Maybe someone can enlighten me as to why Ganley’s finances should be put under the spotlight, and not those of Fianna Fail, the party that has been in power for the last 11 years and has presided over a cataclysmic property bubble? Or that we have no idea from where Fianna Fail, or Fine Gael for that matter, got most of their funding?
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8 responses to “RTE on Declan Ganley”
[…] have you seen it? Your thoughts?? Gavin does not understand why Ganley gets Primetimed about his finances and not the other political […]
It was a very strange piece of TV. I’ve posted on it here
http://dansullivan.blogspot.com/2008/11/prime-time-turns-its-lens-on-declan.html
The editing was very poor in some of the trips were presented as if they occurred in response to answers given when that was not the case.
I think that the programme looked at Declan Ganley’s background (what was known of it). The real question and the one which is still open ended is his links with the US – specifically the military division. This coinciding the Lisbon treaty does leave some sketch questions unanswered about Libertas’ real agenda. It’s not transparent. I understand that his arguments supporting a No vote in the Lisbon treaty revolve around democarcy, taxation etc. but funnily enough his argument about a militarised EU seems non-existent – unusual given his background in the area. Why should we trust Delcan Ganley??? The answer is we don’t. Trust is earned. In my experience the EU has being well intentional towards Ireland – and its other member states.
I don’t see how making money – legitimately – from dealing with the enormous spending of the US defense department is necessarily a bad thing. Nor do I see how this relates to his character. Nor do I see how this relates to Lisbon.
By the same logic, why should we trust anyone in Irish politics at all? Have they earned out trust? Have Fianna Fail or Fine Gael earned our trust? Why does it seem that one set of standards are being applied to Ganley, and another set to the established political parties?
I agree, that is the last time I watch that programme, it completely reminded me of the Simpsons episode when Homer was being accused of sexual assault, que sinister music. I mean… Silly me, I was about to have a go at RTE and suggest they aim a little higher in terms of journalism, but then I realised that piece was not about investigative journalism, this is about dirtying the image of Ganley coupled with the regular newspaper reports that the economy now needs Lisbon badly, and by the time the SECOND vote comes along their intention is we are all brainwashed enough to be good children and do what we are told.
This all surely points to a well funded, strongly connected albiet badly managed campaign to oust Ganley. The dark forces which primetime should first investigate are not potential spook links in the U.S. but actual spook links in Irleland. Who is behind this terribly run campaign to hit Ganley? It is not short of funds or connections but is small minded in intent and intellect. Ganley as a consequence of his complicated mix of a wish for personal privacy and a need for profile makes himself a large stationary target. Yet they missed. If it wasn’t so serious it would be funny. I will continue to vote no until the truth comes out. I expect it will be some time.
The next time someone accuses me of apathetic voting for choosing no as a consequence of not understanding I will add to my no rwason list the fact that a yes man somewhere wants to fool me rather than inform me.
If you are neutral on it, then why write the post in the first place?
This much is true. He IS making his money from the MIC. His past IS hugely shady. If that is not enough for a national broadcaster or any other media outlet to ask some fairly mild questions then you must be one of the people who see him as the James Bond of gangster capitalism.
The speculation and ‘infernal’ image is of course driven by Deco himself, to ensure that everyone else does their PR work for them, such is the size of the democratic deficit a blank-faced Ganley can seem like a contender for political office.
Why does it seem that one set of standards are being applied to Ganley, and another set to the established political parties?
I think you make a very good point here Gavin. Where is the prime time investigation into Ulick McEvaddy’s business. He is, after all, a major fund raiser for Fine Gael.