Mr O'Brien wishes to point out that the initial approach for support for a party political fund-raiser in New York came from Fine Gael. The contact was not initiated by Mr O'Brien, Esat Digifone or Telenor. Mr O'Brien and ultimately Telenor were responding to an approach made by Fine Gael.
Mr O'Brien would like to point out for the record that point No 3 in the legal opinion by Mr James Nugent SC, as published today, is fundamentally inaccurate. [Neither] Mr Nugent nor anybody associated with Fine Gael asked Mr O'Brien for the facts in relation to this issue. Those facts are as detailed in Mr O'Brien's statement of yesterday where it was categorically stated that the initial invitation to him by Mr David Austin was declined but he did suggest that Telenor may wish to support the event and he arranged contact between those two parties.
Furthermore, Mr Nugent's opinion refers to "Mr O'Brien's money" and "payments made by Mr O'Brien to Fine Gael" within the document. These funds were never, and have been proven never to have been, Mr O'Brien's money.