Profile: Declan Ganley

Declan Ganley is associated in popular consciousness mainly with two things: Libertas and its anti-Lisbon Treaty, pro-federal EU outlook; and his anti-abortion views.

Born in Hertfordshire, England, to Irish parents, the family returned to Galway when Ganley was 13 and, at 49, he retains his English accent. He is, however, resolutely proud of his Irishness.

Ganley has been successful in business and lives with his US-born wife and their four children at Moyne Park, a 40-acre property near Tuam.

His business career has seen him operate in several countries but, as chairman and chief executive of Rivada Networks, he spends most of his work time in the United States.

He has long-standing issues with Denis O’Brien over the awarding, to Mr O’Brien’s Esat, of the State’s second mobile phone licence, the subject of the Moriarty Tribunal.

Active on Twitter, he comments regularly on telecoms matters, the Eighth Amendment debate, and takes a keen interest in military and policing matters.