Denis O’Brien says Declan Ganley is mystery Red Flag client

Businessman Denis O'Brien has accused former telecoms rival Declan Ganley of being the so-far-unnamed client of Red Flag Consulting, which Mr O'Brien claims has been involved in a criminal conspiracy to damage him.

Mr Ganley was named by Mr O'Brien in a notice of motion that was lodged earlier this week in the High Court central office in Dublin.

The notice seeks court orders joining Mr Ganley as a defendant in the long-running action against the Dublin-based public affairs firm Red Flag, amending the statement of claim against it filed by Mr O’Brien on December 4th, 2015.

However, in a statement to The Irish Times, Mr Ganley has denied being the client whom Mr O’Brien alleges commissioned Red Flag to produce a dossier on him. He said: “I am not ... and never have been a client of Red Flag, and this is extremely odd and completely untrue.”

He added: “The issues I do have with Mr O’Brien are related to the findings of the Moriarty tribunal, are well known and are being pursued in the courts.”

Old rivals

Mr Ganley had been involved in a consortium that lost to Mr O’Brien when the latter’s company, Esat Digifone, won Ireland’s second mobile telephone licence in the mid-1990s.

Mr Ganley, who is based in Co Galway, now runs Rivada Networks, which supplies high-tech communications systems to emergency services in the United States and elsewhere.

In his support of these requested alterations, Mr O'Brien cites three affidavits, one of them by former Fianna Fáil TD Colm Keaveney, hitherto a trenchant critic of the businessman.

The notice of motion says that lawyers for Mr O’Brien will present their case for the orders in the High Court on January 29th, 2018, or as soon as possible thereafter.