Well finally after a year and a half I met Evert Bopp yesterday; he gave me some wireless equipment in lieu of the money I was owed. I am now happy that neither Haiti Connect nor Evert Bopp owe me anything else and the debt has been settled in full. It's a shame this couldn’t have been done all that time ago and it’s also a shame that I had to provoke a response from Evert Bopp by posting on various web sites, to get this settled.

I have now been in touch with Mr Bopp and we are on the way to an agreement
to end this dispute all going well i should be able to report by the end of the week
that it is finally sorted out. Watch this Space !

"Good idea, but, I feel, misguided, the scale of the disaster in Haiti has not yet been determined, the urgent need in Haiti at the moment is for water, food, medical supplies, shelter and the need to bury the dead.
The International Aid and Governmental agencies are mobilising to meet these needs, with regard to telecomms, I am sure Digicell are working to restore their network at the moment, and, given Denis O’Briens previous involvement in Charity, I don’t think he will be found wanting. the last thing the people of Haiti need at the moment is a group of well intentioned amateurs flapping around trying to implement a first world solution in a broken third world environment, and, using valuable resources that could be better deployed elsewhere.
If people really want to support the people of Haiti at this time, I suggest a donation to the Red Cross or any NGO like Telecoms Sans Frontiers who already have a presence on the ground.

His response

" @jbkenn “well intentioned amateurs flapping around “? how can you make a statement like that without knowing the people who are getting involved?
You might be “sure” of a lot of things but I (and those helping me) are actually communicating with different organisations to see how we can best apply or offer our skills & assistance.
As for using “valuable resources that could be better deployed elsewhere” I am actually arranging our own resources so anything we do will be in addition to the ongoing relief effort and we will certainly not detract from it.
It would be great if someone like you who runs a WISP would actually offer some support."

As someone who has a modicum of experience in this field, and, with a range of real expertise in this field available to me, I would not dare to presume I was qualified to attempt such a project.

His hardware wish list consists of nothing more than "Toys for the Boys" on a field trip, and would not be considered or used by anybody with experience in this field. He will not get any support from anybody involved in Wireless Broadband deployment in Ireland.
His "Team" , I only know of 2 members of his team neither of whom has any network/wireless technical skills to bring to this project, one I believe is a paramedic, but in 8 years of involvement in this field, I have only once needed a band-aid.

The bits of Mr. Bopp's bio I would be aware of

Organiser – Bizcamp Limerick (March 2009): Bizcamp Limerick was a one day event aimed at entrepreneurs and innovators to come together, share experiences & opportunities. The event was full off talks by experienced business people and leaders and served as a guide for anyone considering or taking their fist steps as an entrepreneur.
The less said about Mr. Bopp's involvement in Bizcamp the better, let's just say, he won't be involved in the next Bizcamp

Founder – The Greenhouse Incubator (January 2009 – present): The Greenhouse is an (early stage) start-up incubator providing new ventures with the facilities, services and knowledge to successfully start their venture and develop their product/service.
One year on, The Greenhouse Incubator is nothing more than an empty shell top floor office in O'Connell Street and another figment of his over active imagination

co-organiser – Open Coffee Club Limerick ( January 2008 – present): The Limerick Open Coffee Club is one of the hundreds of Open Coffee Clubs worldwide. It’s a monthly, informal get-together of entrepreneurs, geeks, investors and anyone with an interest in technology and/or business.
Co-organiser?? as there are no organisers per se of Open Coffee Limerick and speaking as one who has been involved in Open Coffee Limerick since day one, we would love to know what exactly he was co-organising, thankfully he has not darkened our door in the last number of months.

CEO – AirAppz (October 2006 – present): Airappz provides wifi internet access at public locations, festivals, conferences, events & public transport systems. Airappz has also developed their own captive portal application including location based advertising & services.

As someone operating a Wireless ISP I would be aware of what is going on nationwide in our business, I cannot find anybody in Ireland who has seen or heard of an AirAppz deployment anywhere.

Freelance wifi consultant (April 2000 – September 2003): Worked on a wide range of national & international wifi related projects.
As Above, I first met Mr. Bopp in 2002, this is news to me.

Managing director – Bite Ltd (February 1998 – March 2000): Bite Ltd was a IT systems integrator, support provider and hardware/software supplier.
Bite Ltd. was still operating in Ennis in 2002, see here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=39426&highlight=evert+bopp

Draw your conclusions.

Also Evert seems to have his own wireless company – http://www.airappz.com/ yet has not donated any equipment himself?

I found some of the requirements very funny

15 sleeping bags (lightweight)
Sunscreen
10-15 Mosquito nets
15 light-weight rainsuit (size XL)
Duct-Tape
10 boxes of latex gloves.

Like c'mon seriously can the volunteers not put their hands in their own pockets for these very basic / cheap requirements?

10 laptops (ruggedized preferred)

Same here – how about bringing your own laptops? what happens the donated laptops and iphones when work has been finished? What if the money for security runs out,as this will be an ongoing payment for maybe years to come,what then happens the equipment? does it just get left to be torn down meaning everything has been for nothing?

There are just far too many questions with regards this venture that have not been answered to give people confidence in terms of donating – this coupled with Evert's professional history – http://evertbopp.com/?page_id=2 seriously how many self-appointed titles can one man have? the first ten titles contain the date to "present" , hhaiti-connect is just another title for Evert to indulgence is some more self delusion.

I was asking because it sounded a little dramatic. At best Bopp is just a well meaning but misguided person, at worst someone trying to turn a profit off the back of a tragedy. Tom's comment (along with some apparant personal knowledge of the man in question) coupled with Samuel's comment, "Watch your back Bock!" seems either a little over board or suggest that there would be something more sinister. I don't see how a link to the defamation act posted by a man with a bigger internet trail than most porn sites could be sinister. I'm sure if you were willing to spend the time looking you'd find something defamatory he wrote somewhere, on some forum or something, or one of his mutliple blogs (at the very least there'd be a bit of blasphemy I'm sure)