Ganley attempts to muzzle Irish media again. Voters will show him what they think of his fake law actions on June 5th

In a week when Declan Ganley has dropped his lawsuit against the Village magazine which covered much the same ground as RTEs Primetime show, Declan Ganley has tried to silence TV coverage of his dodgy past by issuing proceedings against RTE the Irish National broadcaster. It is clear that he fears part two hitting the air before June 5 elections. It is also a cynical electioneering ploy as he can now say that he is suing. He waited long enough. This is yet another scam by Ganley who constantly issues spurious writs that he later backs out of in order to silence or cow opponents and journalist.

This blogger predicts that he will NEVER allow these proceedings to end up in a court room. Read the full Village article Here
Watch the Primetime show or here
RTE obviously feel his action is politically motivated and fear not his bullying as they still host the program on their site.

The Sunday Times has got one part of their story wrong The Village did a deal with Ganley but Ganley never fulfilled his part and STILL backed out of the action despite editor Michael Smith asserting that Ganley had not fulfilled his pact in an article called Declan Ganley Liar in the following issue gives several more examples of Ganley lying. After the publication of this article Ganley chickened out and dropped his law action .

Irish voters will no doubt use their democratic mandate and show Ganley that they value freedom of the press more than a litigious bullying millionaire with dubious funding and a dodgy past.

The Sunday Times

May 3, 2009

Prime Time is sued by Ganley

The Libertas leader and European election candidate has lodged a defamation case against RTE in the High Court

Mark Tighe

DECLAN GANLEY, an independent candidate in the European elections, has lodged a defamation case against RTE.

The Libertas leader, who is running in the North West constituency, is suing over an edition of the Prime Time Investigates show which examined his past.

The Galway-based businessman, who was interviewed on the programme, had threatened legal action soon after the show was broadcast last November. Proceedings were only issued last Tuesday in the High Court.

John McGuirk, a spokesman for Libertas, said the delay in filing papers was to “allow the lawyers to review the programme”. He claimed: “There were factual inaccuracies and things were said that were false.”

He said the case had nothing to do with the balance of the programme, which was the subject of a complaint to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. The authority ruled in favour of RTE and said there was no evidence of editorial bias.

RTE News and Current Affairs said: “Prime Time fully stands over everything that was broadcast. We won’t comment further because it is a legal matter.”

The programme, which is still available on the RTE website, tracked Ganley’s business dealings in Latvia, Albania and America.

Opponents of Libertas have accused Ganley of making “phoney” legal threats to silence his critics. He has publicly threatened a number of politicians with legal actions after they made allegations that he is funded by the American military complex.

Last February he sued Ormand Quay Publishing, publishers of Village magazine, over an article entitled The Beginning of the End for Declan Ganley. As part of a settlement, Village agreed it should have interviewed Ganley before making serious allegations against him.

Irish TV tells Bruce Arnold his claims of Ganley smearing are proven false.

RTE lash out at Libertas hack Bruce Arnold's comments in last weeks Sunday Independent. In a letter published today in the Irish Independent
Ken O'Shea of RTE points out to Arnold that his biased point of view was directly contradicted by the findings of Ireland's independent broadcasting complaints authority.

RTE's Declan Ganley profile was fair

Bruce Arnold's assertion in last Saturday's Irish Independent that RTE's 'Prime Time' profile of Libertas founder Declan Ganley, broadcast on November 27, last was "unbalanced, ill-researched and... malicious" was an unacceptable slur on a comprehensive work of investigative journalism.

The programme was painstakingly researched over several months and was a balanced and considered profile of a fascinating and controversial political figure, undertaken as a matter of public interest.

Mr Arnold's attack was all the more curious, given that it came just days after the independent Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) published its adjudication on a complaint by a member of the public against the programme.

In their judgment, the BCC stated: "Mr Ganley has risen to the forefront of Irish politics. The funding of Libertas has been, and continues to be, widely debated and discussed in political, media and public forums. In entering such a political arena, Mr Ganley could expect his business past and political aspirations to be held up to scrutiny. It is common practice in democratic societies to scrutinise and question political people in such a manner. This edition of 'Prime Time' set out to examine in a serious manner the background of a public political figure."

The commission noted that the programme-makers offered Mr Ganley a fair right-of-reply. Further, the commission noted that the report was interspersed with contributions which were supportive of Mr Ganley. And they finished by saying: "Mr Ganley represented himself on the programme and was afforded ample opportunity to refute allegations and to express opinion. The commission was of the opinion that the subject matter was treated fairly and was fair to all interests concerned. There was no evidence of editorial bias in this broadcast."

As a columnist, Mr Arnold is under no obligation to apply the balanced, investigative journalism which we believe was evident in this programme. However, your readers deserve all of the information. The programme is available to view on www.rte.ie/primetime

Ken O'Shea
Editor, Current Affairs, RTE