Mr Lowry, in his statement to the Moriarty tribunal, said he could recall attending the Curragh racecourse on the weekend of the Derby in July 1995. Someone whom he could not now recall asked him if he would go to see Sir Anthony in his executive box. He did and a discussion ensued.
Mr Lowry said Sir Anthony "discussed his consortium's application for the licence and sought to impress upon me his commitment to Ireland and his investment in the country".
Mr Lowry said Sir Anthony "also spoke about recognition of his personal standing as an international business leader. He stated that he expected that his consortium would be successful and he also demanded that I as Minister for Communications should forthwith order the shut down of unlicensed TV deflector systems".
Mr Lowry said that some time later Sir Anthony expressed his "extreme displeasure at his consortium's failure to get the licence. I understand that the then Taoiseach Mr John Bruton met with Mr O'Reilly by appointment in Glandore on 25th August, 1996. Mr Bruton reported back on his minutes of that meeting to a Fine Gael ministers' meeting".
Mr Lowry said Mr Bruton "stated that Mr O'Reilly was seriously aggrieved and annoyed with a number of government decisions which affected the Independent group including the GSM licence and TV deflector issues".
He said that during the ministers' discussions it was generally felt that "Mr O'Reilly's dislike of the then coalition government was reflected in Independent Newspapers' political coverage".
He said it was decided to involve government advisor Mr Sean Donlon in the matter and on September 4th, 1996, Mr Donlon met representatives of Independent Newspapers at Hatch Street, in Dublin.
Mr Lowry said the Independent representatives included Mr Liam Healy, Mr David Palmer and the late Mr John Meagher. (Sir Anthony, in his statement, said neither Mr Palmer nor Mr Meagher were present. The Independent memo of the meeting supports this.)
Mr Lowry, in his statement, said Mr Donlon reported back after the Hatch Street meeting that it was "a most difficult meeting and that some very harsh comments were made about the government and individual ministers".
Mr Lowry said Mr Donlon outlined a list of "grievances and a series of demands from the Independent group. Mr Donlon expressed concern that the government was being placed over a political barrel", Mr Lowry said.
Mr Donlon "told me that I was persona non grata with the Independent group. On the morning of the election in June 1997 the front page of the Irish Independent carried a banner headline 'Payback Time'. This was accompanied with a front-page editorial urging the electorate not to vote for the government parties," Mr Lowry said.