ESAT'S detailed prospectus points out that the Government has established a tribunal of inquiry to investigate certain decisions made by politicians, including former minister for communications, Mr Michael Lowry. It says the decisions to be investigated will include the award by Mr Lowry of the GSM licence to Esat Digifone. "While there can be no assurance, the company does not expect that the tribunal will recommend the award of the GSM licence should be revoked or otherwise modified," it says.

Although the terms of reference of the tribunal do not specifically mention the Esat licence award, they do allow for an investigation into decisions made by Mr Lowry while he was in office.

When Esat won the licence, the decision provoked controversy, with strong complaints from disappointed under-bidders. At the time, Mr Lowry and his department would not detail the criteria by which Esat were awarded the licence.

The disgraced former minister faced more than 20 questions in the Dail on the matter. He said no political or "extraneous" considerations entered into the awarding of the second mobile licence to Digifone. He also cited confidentiality as a reason for not giving details of why Esat had been selected.

Mr Lowry refused to publish the report of the consultants who advised on the licence on the grounds that it contained sensitive commercial information.

The controversy over the licence award became so intense that Mr Lowry took the unusual step of presenting six top civil servants at a press conference to defend the integrity of the process.

Another issue which angered the unsuccessful bidders was that the licence fee was capped at £15 million under a provision proposed to the EU Commission by the Department. The cap undoubtedly helped Esat as it would have found it very difficult compete with the financial resources of other bidders such as Motorola, if it had included an auction process.