The former minister Mr Michael Lowry could not have influenced the award of the State's lucrative second mobile phone licence to Esat Digifone, key civil servants involved have told the Moriarty tribunal, writes Colm Keena
The State could be sued for hundreds of millions of euros by the losing bidders for the licence if the tribunal, which resumes public hearings tomorrow, finds that the 1995 licence award competition was tainted. The members of the successful Esat Digifone consortium made fortunes out of the licence.
The tribunal has been investigating the competition in private for more than a year and at a cost of millions of euros to the Exchequer. The Irish Times has had sight of a number of statements to the tribunal from key figures questioned during the private inquiry.
The licence award was one of the biggest commercial decisions ever made by the State. Key civil servants involved in the process say Mr Lowry could not have influenced the selection of the winning bid. They also say the process was designed so that it could withstand litigation from disgruntled failed bidders.
"Given the sealed nature of the process, no-one other than the participants in the project group had any information of value to impart during the closed period, nor was there any way Mr Lowry could influence it," the former secretary of the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr John Loughrey, has told the tribunal in a statement.
Mr Martin Brennan, the civil servant who chaired the project group which selected Esat Digifone, said the "weightings" which were given to the various criteria used to select the winner, were decided during a meeting of the group on May 18th, 1995. Following the meeting, all the documents involved were destroyed save for three documents which were kept "under lock and key" by three of the civil servants involved.
Mr Fintan Towey, another civil servant involved in the process, said Esat Digifone's bid was the best one received, based on the criteria used. "There was not to my knowledge any external influence brought to bear on the process which could have had the effect of ensuring any particular result."
The civil servants told the tribunal they were not aware of the involvement of Mr Dermot Desmond or IIU Ltd in the Esat Digifone consortium until after Esat had won the licence competition.
The tribunal is investigating a number of political contributions made by Mr Denis O'Brien, the main force behind Esat Digifone, during 1995, the year of the licence award. Fine Gael activist, Mr Mark FitzGerald, son of the former Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald, is among those who have given statements to the tribunal in relation to the matter.
Last year, the tribunal heard evidence about a number of financial transactions which linked Mr O'Brien to Mr Lowry. Mr O'Brien has denied any knowledge of any transactions which personally benefited Mr Lowry.
Mr Lowry, in his statement to the tribunal, has given brief details of his meetings with Mr O'Brien during 1995. He said he met the businessman during a Fine Gael fund-raising lunch in advance of the June 1995 Wicklow by-election. He also said he met Mr O'Brien in September 1995, after the All-Ireland football final. "Any discussion we had was of a general nature." Mr Lowry also said that during his tenure as minister there was ongoing conflict between Telecom Éireann and Mr O'Brien's Esat Telecom. "In this regard I would certainly have had contact with Mr O'Brien and Esat officials," he said.