Official says licence process was fair

Another member of the team that selected the winner of the State's second mobile phone competition has said there was no interference in the process.Civil servant, Mr John McQuaid, told the Moriarty tribunal yesterday that he saw nothing to make him believe that there was an attempt to influence improperly the work of the assessment team.

Mr McQuaid, the fifth member of the team to give such evidence, told Mr Eoghan Fitzsimons SC, for Telenor, the Norwegian company that forms part of the winning Esat Digifone consortium, that he saw no evidence of any political interference.

Mr McQuaid was head of the Telecommunications and Radio Technology Division of the Department of Communications at the time of the competition in 1995.

He formed part of a sub-group of the team that assessed four technical aspects of the six bids received for the licence.

He agreed with Mr John O'Donnell SC, for the Department, that the Digifone consortium scored full marks for all four technical aspects. This was a better result than that of any of the other consortiums.

Mr McQuaid said all the bids were treated equally and that the team members he worked with were able and conscientious.

The results from his sub-group were arrived at by consensus, he said.

Mr McQuaid completed his evidence yesterday.

Earlier this week he said there was "fairly hard argument" within the group over the adequacy of the team's final report.

The tribunal adjourned until Tuesday, when it is expected another former member of the team will give evidence. It is expected all assessment team members will give evidence before the Easter recess.