Century Radio asked former minister for communications Mr Ray Burke that RTE's transmission charges be reduced before the station had even made its submission for the radio licence, the Flood tribunal heard yesterday.
Mr James Stafford, former Century director, told the tribunal he prepared the memo because he was concerned at the high price being quoted by RTE.
RTE had sought £1.2 million for the use of its transmission network, a similar figure to that being budgeted for by the two main rivals for the radio licence.
However, Century had maintained the figure should be £375,000.
Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, asked why Mr Burke was being briefed on the issue before the IRTC had even seen Century Radio's submission. Mr Stafford said Century Radio feared there would be a problem with RTE's charges if it won the licence.
Asked why he did not approach RTE about their charges, rather than Mr Burke, Mr Stafford said that would not have been a sound business tactic. The tribunal saw a memo prepared by Mr Stafford for consultant Mr Ray Hills, outlining what he intended to send to Mr Burke. "I probably gave it to Oliver Barry who gave it to the minister," he said.
Asked if he was aware Mr Burke and Mr Barry often met for lunch, Mr Stafford said he knew the two men were old friends but he could not recall if they met for lunch to discuss this letter.
Mr Stafford said he only became aware of the department of communications' decision to reduce RTE's transmission charges to £692,000 after Century had made its oral submission on January 12th.
Mr Hanratty questioned why the IRTC would award the licence to Century in the knowledge Century would not be viable if it had to pay over £375,000 in transmission charges.
He also questioned why Century should have continued trying to negotiate the transmission charges even after the department of communications had fixed the charge at £692,000. Mr Stafford said Century still believed the fee was too high.
