OPPOSITION parties in Leinster House have united in accusing the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Lowry, of "short changing" the taxpayer in the sale of 20 per cent of Telecom to KPN/Telia.

Shortly after the announcement of the deal, spokesmen for Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats decried the price as "derisory, scandalous" and "a

Fianna Fail's communications spokesman, Mr Seamus Brennan, claimed that the price was only half what the 20 per cent was worth. The total achieved was

"disastrously low" and pointed to a panic sale by Mr Lowry. It was a betrayal of the taxpayer whose investment was being sold off on the cheap, he said.

Mr Michael McDowell, the Progressive Democrats spokesman on finance, said the Minister's announcement that the stake was to be sold this year for £183 million meant that the company's value had fallen by a third since Cable and Wireless indicated three years ago it was willing to pay £460 million for a 35 per cents take.

Telecom profits, in the meantime, had risen by a quarter.

According to Mr Brennan, the deal was "a crazy one for the State".