Conflicting statements have been given to the Moriarty tribunal by the chairman of Independent News & Media, Sir Anthony O'Reilly, and the former Fine Gael minister, Mr Michael Lowry. Colm Keena reports
Different versions of a conversation between Sir Anthony and Mr Lowry during a race meeting at the Curragh Racecourse in the mid-1990s are detailed in the statements to the tribunal, which resumes on Tuesday.
Mr Lowry, then minister for transport, energy and communications, told the tribunal that Sir Anthony, during the conversation, said he "expected" that a consortium Independent was involved in would be granted the State's second mobile phone licence.
Sir Anthony told the tribunal in his statement that no such comment had been made by him during the conversation and that he was "taken aback" when he first heard of what Mr Lowry had told the tribunal.
The men's statements, which have been circulated to parties to the tribunal, have been seen by The Irish Times.
The Independent group and Princes Holdings (now known as Chorus), a cable TV company in which Independent had a 50 per cent stake, were both involved in Irish Cellular Telephones, a consortium which bid for the second GSM licence. The licence was won by Esat Digifone, and the competition to decide the winner is being examined by the tribunal. Esat was announced as the winner in October 1995.
Mr Lowry told the tribunal that his meeting with Sir Anthony took place in July 1995. "He discussed his consortium's application for the licence and sought to impress upon me his commitment to Ireland and his investment in the country. He also spoke about recognition of his personal standing as an international business leader," Mr Lowry said.
He said Sir Anthony "stated that he expected that his consortium would be successful and he also demanded that I as minister for communications should forthwith order the shutdown of unlicensed TV deflector systems."
Sir Anthony said in his statement that he believed the conversation took place in July 1996. It was absolutely untrue that he had raised the issue of the GSM licence. He said he probably complained about the (government's) failure to take any action against "pirate" television broadcaster operators and in that context may have pointed out his commitment to Ireland. Sir Anthony said he did not make any "demands".
Mr Lowry said that Fine Gael ministers were told in 1996 by the Taoiseach, Mr John Bruton, that Sir Anthony was "seriously aggrieved and annoyed with a number of government decisions" including the GSM licence award.
Mr Lowry said the comment was made by Mr Bruton in the wake of a meeting between Mr Bruton and Sir Anthony in the latter's holiday home in west Cork in July 1996.
Mr Bruton, in a statement to the tribunal, has said it was his recollection that Sir Anthony "expressed certain unhappiness regarding the award of the GSM licence" during the meeting in west Cork.
Sir Anthony said that two days after the meeting in west Cork he sent a hand-written letter to Mr Bruton. The letter mentioned the matters discussed at their meeting and did not mention the GSM issue, he said. He gave a copy of the letter to the tribunal.
He also said it was "completely untrue" that he had been seriously aggrieved and annoyed at the outcome of the GSM licence competition or that had he conveyed his displeasure directly to Mr Bruton.