Denis O’Brien
The businessman (54) was the founder of Esat Digifone, the winner of the 1995 mobile phone licence competition. The winning of that licence, at a time when Michael Lowry was minister for communications, was the foundation stone for O’Brien’s later accumulation of great wealth.
He told the Moriarty tribunal that he bought the grounds of Doncaster Rovers Football Club in 1998, as an investment, and that Michael Lowry had no “hand, act or part” in the deal.
He brought unsuccessful proceedings in the High Court to try to prevent the tribunal holding public hearings about the deal,which he said was his private business and had nothing to do with the tribunal’s terms of reference.
However, the court ruled against him in August 2005, as did the Supreme Court in February 2006, and the tribunal’s public hearings then went ahead.
Michael Lowry
The Independent TD for North Tipperary resigned from government in November 1996 after it was disclosed that Dunnes Stores had paid for substantial work on his home outside Holycross.
Despite the loss of office and his having to face a succession of public inquiries and an investigation by the Revenue Commissions, Mr Lowry (58) subsequently became involved in a number of speculative property investments in England.
In March 1999 he was involved in the purchase of property in Mansfield, England, for £250,000 sterling. In September 1999 Mr Lowry contracted to buy a property in Cheadle for £445,000.
He told the Moriarty tribunal that he had no role or interest whatsoever in the purchase of Doncaster Rovers Football Club Ltd, for £4.3 million in August 1998.
Following the publication of the Moriarty tribunal’s report in 2011, the Dáil passed the following motion without a vote: “The Dáil believes the conduct of Michael Lowry set out in the tribunal report was completely unacceptable and calls on Deputy Lowry to resign voluntarily his membership of Dáil Éireann.”
Kevin Phelan
The Omagh, Co Tyrone, businessman acted as a land agent in three of the property deals investigated by the tribunal. Mr Phelan (49), who refused to come to Dublin to give evidence to the Moriarty tribunal, later fell out with Aidan Phelan (no relation), a Dublin accountant who worked for Denis O’Brien and who worked with Kevin Phelan on the land deals.
Mr Lowry told the tribunal that he was introduced to Mr Phelan in late 1997 and that in mid-1998, he first discussed a possible purchase in Mansfield. About this same time Mr Phelan contacted Aidan Phelan about the possible purchase of the Doncaster property.
In March and April 2002 he was paid £65,000 by a company owned by Mr Lowry called Vineacre. In August 2002 he was paid £150,000 by a company owned by Mr O’Brien called Westferry.
The tribunal said Mr Phelan provided untruthful and misleading information to it so as to secure advantage for himself vis-à-vis Mr O’Brien and Mr Lowry and “under threat that his attendance as a witness . . . would expose the extent of the false evidence provided to the tribunal by Mr Lowry, Mr O’Brien and their associates” in relation to Lowry’s land deals in England.
Aidan Phelan
The Dublin accountant (61) is a former business associate of Denis O’Brien. He told the tribunal he was approached by Kevin Phelan in early 1998 at a time when he, Aidan Phelan, was sourcing investment opportunities for Mr O’Brien, and that this led to the Doncaster transaction.
He told the tribunal that he did not believe Kevin Phelan had an entitlement to fees from the Doncaster deal, but that he was entitled to a 40 per cent profit share if the property was sold on. Aidan Phelan sourced money from a bank account of Mr O’Brien that was used to buy property with Mr Lowry. Mr Phelan said Mr O’Brien owed him the money.
Christopher Vaughan
Mr Vaughan is a solicitor based in England who acted for the purchasers in the Cheadle, Mansfield and Doncaster transactions.
In September 1998, he wrote to Mr Lowry and referred to the latter’s “total involvement” in the Doncaster deal. He later said the letter was based on a false understanding which he developed after a conversation he had had with Mr Lowry. Mr Lowry said he never received the letter.
Mr Vaughan initially refused to give evidence to the tribunal but did eventually, in 2009. As outlined in the tribunal’s report, it emerged that documents from Mr Vaughan’s files that had been given to the tribunal had been falsified. Also, evidence which he gave to the tribunal before his evidence was erroneous, the judge found.