The Bogeyman

I admire Declan Ganley, but it's clear that large sections of the Irish media don't like or trust him. He's a devout Catholic teetotaler - Strike One. He's a successful businessman with some strong political views on the EU - Strike Two. And, he's the CEO of a company that sells telecom equipment to US Northern Command and the National Guard Bureau - STRIKE THREE.

I mean, good Lord, could he be any more perfect as the ultimate bogeyman for the left-leaning Irish media and the pro-Lisbon Dail parties? Oh yeah, he's married to an American - Strike Four - if a fourth strike is needed.

The government is going to change the law to help silence Ganley and yesterday European Affairs Minister Dick Roche - he's sounding more bitter each day, isn't he? - said that Declan Ganley is "class A+ hypocrite".

“Declan Ganley is calling for more openness and transparency in Europe yet the contract which was awarded to him by the US Department of Defence in September 2004 did not entail public procurement procedure whatsoever,” Mr Roche said.

“The emerging details of Declan Ganley’s business links with the US military raises the question once again as to what his motive was in opposing the Lisbon treaty with such a well-financed campaign. The Irish people have a right to know who is pulling his strings.”

Is Dick Roche always so concerned with transparency in the American public procurement procedure? Really, what issue is it for Dick Roche how the American government awards contracts?

More importantly, there's more than a hint of anti-American hysteria in Roche's comments. I fully expect to see Brian Cowen slap him down or I'm going to write to my Congressional representatives to ask them to raise the issue with the Irish government. It's bad enough that the lunatic left talks about the American government this way without the Irish government joining in. I'm sick of it, actually.

Anyway, I checked FedSpending.org and I don't see any contracts coming anywhere near the €200m that the Irish Examiner claims that Rivada Networks has secured with the "US Military". In fact, for the years 2004-2008 the total for all Federal contracts with companies called Rivada is around $40m or about €28m.

If Rivada has contracts totaling €200m most of them must be with state governments, which should ease the concerns of all those who see the "neocons" behind everything. Maybe a little light (that is, a bit of googling) can help the media and the government to see that the bogeyman's not so scary after all.