LIBERTAS:LIBERTAS CHAIRMAN Declan Ganley said yesterday it was "absolutely ridiculous" to suggest that his company, Rivada Networks, had war-related contracts with the US military.
Libertas is campaigning for a No vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum.
Galway-based businessman Mr Ganley was responding to a report in The Irish Times which stated that the majority of the founders of the Libertas group were employees of a Rivada subsidiary in Co Galway. It also detailed how some of the directors of Rivada in the US had previously worked for the US military and in homeland security.
"Let me be very clear. Rivada Networks is a public safety communications company," Mr Ganley said.
"We have a contract with the US northern command which is a branch of the US military and the national guard bureau in their role in public safety disaster response," he said.
"We supply emergency disaster response communications systems."
Mr Ganley said he was awarded the Louisiana Distinguished Service Medal for leading Rivada Network's response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"Trying to somehow suggest that we have some sort of contracts with the military for wars and stuff like that is absolutely ridiculous," he said.
"Now I know nobody has specifically said that but by not being clear there's deliberate fog being put out there, and, of course, all of that distracts from, or is designed to distract from, the issue of talking about what is in the treaty."
Asked if there was any overlap between Libertas and Rivada Networks, he said "no, none".
Libertas had spent about €300,000 on its campaign to date, and all of this money was donated in Ireland, he said.
The group was mainly funded by business people and they had requested confidentiality. Mr Ganley said he fully understood this request for confidentiality as "bully boy tactics" were being used against people who opposed the Yes campaign.
Mr Ganley said that The Irish Times was wrong to say that James O'Reilly, Rivada's chief operating officer, was linked to Libertas.
However John McGuirk, a spokesman for the Libertas group, afterwards accepted that Mr O'Reilly was a founding member of Libertas.
Mr McGuirk said that Mr O'Reilly provided a signature, as seven signatures were required to set up The Libertas Institute Ltd. The other signatories were "actively involved" in Libertas, but Mr O'Reilly was not, he said.
Mr Ganley claimed the Government was "wilfully misleading and telling outright lies" on the issue of Ireland's right to veto any future World Trade Organisation agreements.
He said Ireland would have no right to veto any WTO deal because all trade deals were now voted on by qualified majority vote. "Big countries get to decide, we don't."
The only grounds for objection were in the Government's ability to provide services in the area of healthcare, education and audiovisual services.
He called on the Government to point to the specific area in the Lisbon Treaty which would allow the Government to veto a world trade deal. And he urged the farming community to reject the Lisbon Treaty.
