There is only one story in town today. His name is Declan Ganley. Yet for all the talk, no one knows very much about him. So just who is the mysterious Mr Ganley?

Some people say he's just a tycoon on an ego trip. Why, they ask, would someone who rails against Brussels elitism travel in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce?

Others suspect that he wants to be a politician. But maybe Declan Ganley is just a very patriotic guy. After all, it is conceivable that he woke up one morning and simply decided to raise €1.3m from "anonymous" donors to fight a referendum in the country of his parents' birth.

ARMY

It is even possible that the Libertas front man, who spends much of his time in Washington DC, is thinking only of his children's' future, as he claimed last week.

Call me Jim Corr, but I have my doubts.

In March, Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton was ridiculed by Libertas for suggesting that Europe needs an army. Responding, Creighton asked whether Ganley's opposition to the Lisbon Treaty was due to the involvement of his company, Rivada Networks, in the provision of US military equipment and intelligence (Gay Mitchell MEP went even further last week, asking if Libertas is backed by the CIA).

Rivada Networks boasts a customer base that includes US Military Northern Command and a boardroom that contains two former US admirals.

"Rivada Networks is a public safety communications company," Ganley responded, adding that the company had only been involved in US rescue and disaster operations.

So that's cleared up that then.

Libertas was first mooted in 2003 in a paper written by Ganley for a conservative American think tank with a long tradition of promoting military action and "strong defence capability in pursuit of US foreign policy goals".

In the same year, Ganley, criticising plans for a European Minister for Foreign Affairs, said: "Rather than try to define itself in contradistinction to the United States, this new Europe must be an equal partner and influence in the worldwide extension of justice and liberty."

A stronger, more militarised Europe would represent a bulwark against American hegemony. Is the US military -- or some element within it -- cynical enough to consider backing an organisation that opposes the passing of the Lisbon Treaty because a stronger Europe represents a real challenge to the United States on the world stage?

DEMOCRACIES

I wouldn't be surprised. Look at the history of dubious US interventions in foreign democracies since the end of the Second World War.

But is Ganley the stooge for such a campaign? Or is it merely a happy coincidence that his worldview tallies with that of his American friends? And just where is the money coming from?

Having failed to get hold of Ganley by phone, I approached him at the end of a debate last Thursday night. "We'll make a full statement in relation to (Libertas' funding) in due course," he told me. But why not put the rumours to rest now?

"We are totally compliant with the rules, unlike the Yes side." And why did he decide to announce his concerns about the future of Europe to a right wing American think tank?

With a straight face, Ganley replied: "Are they right wing?"

If you want Europe to play a constructive role on the world stage, and if you worry about American imperialism, you will vote Yes on Thursday.

We Irish are moral Lilliputians when it comes to military action. We bemoan the aggressive way in which the US pursues its foreign policy goals overseas, while refusing to be part of any army that might liberate oppressed peoples.

In short, we want it both ways. This hypocrisy is disgraceful, and while a Yes vote will not ensure that the EU has serious clout, it is a step in the right direction.

There is no political capital in this view. That, I suspect, is why Fianna Fail has given Libertas an easy ride, lest voters be alerted to the real consequences of Lisbon.

Bizarrely, the one political party that might be expected to denounce Libertas has done the opposite. Gerry Adams has put his differences with the aggressively pro-market lobby group aside in order to present a unified 'No'.

In doing so, he has made a serious error.

If you reject the idea that Europe needs a powerful army, Libertas is the best argument you have. Its very existence suggests, to me, that the Lisbon Treaty will lead to the creation of just such an army.

Who knows? Declan Ganley may simply be a Super Dad. Maybe he wants a job as a TD. Maybe he wants to be on television. Maybe he just likes kissing babies. And maybe he isn't the elephant in the national living room.

That's a lot of maybes.

Trevor White is the editor of The Dubliner. The magazine hosts a debate about the Lisbon Treaty at 7pm in the Odessa Club tonight. Admission free.