Burke went against advice on MMDS concessions

Mr Ray Burke agreed to all of the main terms sought by Independent Newspapers plc for the operation of the exclusive MMDS television relay licences granted to its associate company, Princes Holdings Ltd.

He overrode official advice in his Department in early 1991 to give the then managing director of Independent Newspapers, Mr Joe Hayes, most of the "written reassurances" Mr Hayes sought for "planning, banking and investment reasons" in a memorandum dated October 8th, 1990.

The subsequent letter of comfort, issued by Mr Burke to Mr Hayes on February 4th, 1991, came from the Minister's private office. In the Department's MMDS files, the letter is marked "Signed and Despatched from Minister's Office" to highlight the fact that it was a Ministerial decision.

It is not known whether the letter, which was intended to have legal effect, was considered by the Attorney General's Office.

Copies of documents from the Department's files, which have been seen by The Irish Times, show that Mr Burke reproduced verbatim the main exclusivity terms sought by Mr Hayes; he slightly modified others.

He also overrode official advice that it would not really "make much sense to us" to give an undertaking to renew the MMDS licences for a second 10-year period.

These documents, published on page 7 of today's Irish Times, are contained in the MMDS files which were examined by a team of officials, led by Mr John Loughrey, secretary general of the Department of Public Enterprise, in the Telecommunications Regulator's Office yesterday.

Their report was referred to the Attorney General, Mr David Byrne, late last night.

A Government spokesman said that he would study it over the weekend. "If there is something in it, even if it is not conclusive, he will refer it to one of the tribunals", the spokesman said.

These developments follow the Magill disclosure that a payment of £30,000 was made, in a cheque payable to cash, by Rennicks Manufacturing Ltd, a subsidiary of Fitzwilton plc, to Mr Burke in June 1989 as the representative of Fianna Fail. Mr Burke gave £10,000 of this to the party.

Mr Burke, then outgoing Minister for Industry, Commerce and Communications, retained the Communications portfolio when he was appointed Minister for Justice and Communications after the 1989 general election. He awarded the MMDS licences to Princes Holdings in September, 1989.

Within months of the granting of the licences Mr Hayes entered into negotiations with Mr Burke to seek a strengthening of the exclusivity terms of the licence. In particular, he wanted the Minister to apply the full rigours of the law to illegal operations affecting the franchise region.

The "written reassurances" sought by Mr Hayes were conveyed in Mr Burke's letter of February 4th, 1991.

Independent Newspapers plc and Princes Holdings plc, in a statement issued yesterday evening, said categorically that neither they nor any person or company acting for, or on behalf of, Independent Newspapers or Princes Holdings made any improper payment of any kind to any person or organisation in relation to the granting of MMDS licences.

Mr Burke, in his letter of comfort, reproduced virtually word-for-word the main undertaking sought by Mr Hayes.

He stated: "You were invited to apply for exclusive franchises and it is accepted that no further licences for television programme retransmissions, wired broadcast relay or other rebroadcast or relay within or to your franchise regions will be granted for the duration of your television programme re transmission licences. Neither will the Minister during this time permit geographical extensions to any wired broadcast relay [cable television] licences which now exist in the region."

The second condition sought by Mr Hayes - a promise to apply "the full rigours of the law to illegal operations" - is reproduced almost verbatim also.

Mr Burke ignored the official advice that it did not make departmental sense to give the required undertaking on the renewal of the 10-year MMDS licences. He opted, instead, in paragraph 6 of his letter, for a halfway house between what Mr Hayes sought and what the Department advised.