Some civil servants felt Esat Telecom 'pushed law to limit'

Some civil servants in the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications believed Mr Denis O'Brien's Esat Telecom "pushed the law to its limits and left it up to the system to stop them", the tribunal heard.

Mr Martin Brennan, who chaired the group which assessed the bids for the State's second mobile phone licence, said some members of the group raised the question as to whether a company "with that sort of history" should be given the licence.

Esat Digifone, which the group believed had made the best bid, was 40 per cent owned by Communicorp, which was also the owner of Esat Telecom. At the time, 1995, Esat Telecom was in competition with Telecom Éireann.

Mr Brennan said it was the view of most members of the group that the history of Esat Telecom was not an issue which should prevent Esat Digifone from being given the licence.

A copy of a note drafted by Mr Sean MacMahon for Mr Ed O'Callaghan was shown. Both civil servants were part of the assessment group. In the note it was stated that it could not be concluded from the draft report then in existence that Esat Digifone was the winner of the competition.

Mr Brennan said the two men were not inclined to be as decisive as the other members of the group as to the result but there was no call for revisiting the assessment. The minutes of the meeting of October 23rd, 1995, recorded the group as being generally satisfied with the result but not with the presentation of the report. "I am as certain as certain can be that there came a time in the evening when there was no stated objection to the result."

Mr Brennan said the meeting of October 23rd may have gone on to 10.30 p.m., and may have resumed on October 24th. A final draft of the report was being worked on. He could not recall if he had received a copy of the final report by the 25th, when the announcement was made that Esat Digifone had won.

Mr Brennan said he would recall a conversation with Danish consultant Mr Michael Andersen, where Mr Andersen said there was no upside to delaying the result. He conveyed that view to the departmental secretary, Mr John Loughrey, and possibly to the Minister, Mr Michael Lowry. A quick announcement removed the opportunity for political intrigue. No formal meeting was held by the group to adopt the final report.

The tribunal heard drafts of the report were produced in monogrammed editions, with the monogram of the person due to receive each copy appearing on each page. This was a security device.