What were the Government press secretary, Mr P.J. Mara, Ireland's leading financier, Mr Dermot Desmond, and the cofounders of Century Radio, Mr Oliver Barry and Mr James Stafford, doing at a meeting in Mr Desmond's office sometime in 1990?
The explanations range from the far-fetched to the implausible. Mr Stafford has already told the tribunal Mr Desmond called the meeting because Mr Mara was "owed" £30,000 by Century, although he was unable to say what for. His allegation that Mr Mara and the minister for communications, Mr Ray Burke, were operating a "price list" for awarding commercial radio franchises stands unsupported.
Yesterday, it was the turn of Mr Desmond to give his explanation of events. In clipped tones, he told the tribunal that the meeting was held in his office because he had "no time" to go to other people's offices.
The purpose was to resolve the question of whether his friend Mr Mara would be employed as a consultant to the fledgling radio station. The proposal had been rumbling on for some time, but Mr Desmond wanted to resolve the matter - "kill it or fill it".
But the meeting ended within 90 seconds "before even the coffee was served", he said, after Mr Barry made it clear that there was no way Century could do business with Mr Mara. Mr Desmond denied there was any discussion of money being owed to Mr Mara, as Mr Stafford has alleged. There are a number of problems with this explanation. Why was Mr Desmond advising his friend on employment matters when he had no expertise in this area? Why was he advising his friend on joining a company which, within three months of going on air, was virtually bankrupt? Century had already seen its managing director and marketing director leave, it had made 40 staff redundant and it was unable to pay tax and PRSI, so it could hardly afford Mr Mara and his demand for £6070,000 a year, plus stock options.
It was hardly the prospect on which Mr Mara could leave his public service job and "build a secure future for his family", as Mr Desmond claimed yesterday. And how could Mr Mara seek stock options when he proposed to act only as a part-time consultant to the company?
"If that was the case [about Century's finances], that's why they would need someone like P.J.", Mr Desmond remarked. By way of further explanation, he also put forward his theory of "contrary investment" in companies no one else would touch, but were later successful.
Mr Stafford has claimed Mr Desmond said at the meeting that he was owed £100,000 by Mr Mara. Mr Desmond said yesterday the debt was £46,000. "It was purely northside chaps helping each other," he said memorably.
But even if he got the amount wrong, how could Mr Stafford have known about a private debt between Mr Mara and Mr Desmond?
Mr Desmond appeared to contradict his friend when he said the debt was not repaid. According to Mr Mara, it was repaid in 1993. However, Mr Desmond went on to say that Mr Mara subsequently carried out public relations work on his behalf without payment.
Mr Mara's recollection of the meeting differs in a number of respects from his friend's. He recalls a discussion of his possible employment by Century, whereas Mr Desmond says Century "knocked it down full stop" and discussion ended immediately. Mr Mara remembers making his own case but Mr Desmond has no recollection of this.
Aside from the meeting involving Mr Mara, Mr Desmond had one further association with Century. In January 1989, he sought to invest in Century on behalf of a client. This fact is recorded in a memo written by Mr Stafford, who noted that Mr Desmond was told that his offer could only be considered after the franchise had been awarded. "DD said this was not good enough and he may now seek participation with another runner," Mr Stafford's memo records.
But it turns out that Mr Desmond was acting for none other than himself. He wanted to get in on Century cheaply before the licence was awarded rather than have to pay more to a successful bidder.
"I would camouflage my interest because if there's a price for Joe Public, there's a price for Dermot Desmond," he explained.
The timing of this memo - written several days after the oral presentation to the IRTC and just a day before Century was formally awarded the licence - is interesting. At this stage, it seems likely that Century knew privately it had won the franchise. So was Century holding off Mr Desmond until it could demand a higher price after the formal announcement? Or could Mr Desmond have had some knowledge of the outcome of the IRTC's deliberations? And why did Mr Desmond not declare that he was acting on his own behalf?
Several days later, Mr Desmond did indeed invest in another bidder for one of the Dublin licences, Capital Radio Productions.