MORIARTY TRIBUNAL: The chairman of the consortium that came second in the 1995 mobile phone licence competition told the tribunal it was going to proceed with a civil action against the State irrespective of the outcome of the tribunal.
Mr Tony Boyle, of the Persona consortium, told Mr Bill Shipsey SC, for Mr Dermot Desmond, that his company had spent "several hundred thousand euro" on monitoring the proceedings of the tribunal's public inquiry into the licence competition.
He said that after the result of the competition was announced in October 1995, his consortium had sought an answer as to why it had not won but had not received any satisfactory response. It considered seeking a judicial review of the competition outcome but decided in 1996 to close the file on the matter. The matter was reopened more recently and a claim against the State was lodged in 2002.
He told Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, that his consortium had been working on the bid project since 1992. He told Mr Shipsey that it had spent £5 million on its bid.
Mr Boyle said that at a chance encounter at the Aintree races in April 1995, Mr Desmond had told him he had been asked by Mr Denis O'Brien to chair his consortium but had declined. Mr Boyle said Mr Desmond said he'd had enough of telecoms. Mr Boyle said he took this to be a reference to the Glackin report into the Telecom controversy.
He said Mr Desmond also said he "knew who Mr O'Brien would use to get to Lowry". He said he did not pay too much attention to the remark until it later emerged that Mr Desmond was involved in the Esat Digifone consortium.
Mr Coughlan said Mr Desmond had denied that any such conversation had ever taken place. Mr Coughlan said he would have to test Mr Boyle's credibility and whether he might be motivated by malice.
Mr Boyle agreed with Mr Shipsey that there was no documentary record of the alleged conversation prior to a written statement to the tribunal from Mr Boyle in September 2002.
The tribunal heard that Mr Boyle met Mr Lowry in a Killiney, Co Dublin, hotel in August 1995, where he made a "sales pitch" in relation to Persona. The meeting was arranged by businessman Mr Frank Conroy, a Fine Gael activist and fund-raiser. Mr Boyle agreed with Mr Shipsey that it could be said he used Mr Conroy to "get at" Mr Lowry. He said he saw nothing wrong in his meeting the minister during the course of the licence competition.
When Mr Shipsey said the evidence being heard by the tribunal could assist Persona in its case against the State, Mr Boyle said his advice was that Persona had a case and that it would be pursuing it regardless of the outcome of the tribunal.
When Mr Shipsey said it was in Mr Boyle's interest for there to be an adverse finding by the tribunal, Mr Boyle said he understood that the two matters were entirely separate.
Mr Shipsey said Mr Boyle had "every incentive to seek to influence this tribunal and convince the tribunal that there was something wrong or untoward or crooked in the awarding of the licence" to Esat Digifone. Mr Boyle said he had simply answered questions put to him by the tribunal.
