THE DEPARTMENT of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is preparing a response to draft findings from the Moriarty tribunal, which have been circulated recently to key witnesses to the 10-year-long inquiry.
The tribunal is investigating the conduct of the second mobile telephone licence contract competition in 1996, which was awarded to Denis O'Brien's Esat Digifone. Mr O'Brien's Esat group was subsequently sold on for €2.9 billion.
The Moriarty tribunal has also ordered the Department of Communications to make no further public comment on the issue, warning that the publication of draft findings is unlawful.
Last Friday, the tribunal threatened The Irish Timeswith an injunction within 20 minutes if it did not abandon plans to publish details of the provisional conclusions, forcing the newspaper to stop the presses and destroy 25,000 copies.
A Government statement issued last night said "the submissions to the tribunal from the Department of Communications on the preliminary findings are being prepared by the department's legal team, made up of a number of barristers and a solicitor".
Responsibility for co-ordinating the department's reply has been delegated by Attorney General Paul Gallagher to a senior official in his office, the official statement from the Government said.
During his time as a senior counsel, Mr Gallagher represented Dr AJF O'Reilly, Guinness and Mahon and Ben Dunne at the tribunal. It is normal practice for an attorney general to excuse himself from cases in which he has had involvement.
Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, speaking on RTÉ Radio One's News At One yesterday, said the Government "had not received" the draft report.
However, the issue was raised at last week's Cabinet meeting and a copy has been with the Department of Communications for over a week.
"The matter has not been discussed. Any discussion at the Cabinet is privy to the Cabinet," she said, adding that the Moriarty tribunal was set up by order of the Houses of the Oireachtas, and not by the Government.
The Department of Communications issued a statement to The Irish Timeslate last Friday night on its reaction to the draft findings, but this could not be published subsequently on foot of the tribunal's threat of an injunction.
Quoting a report in yesterday's Guardiannewspaper, the leader of the Labour Party Eamon Gilmore, speaking under Dáil privilege, said it had suggested that the Government was "concerned" about the findings.
"This could entail a further battle through the courts between the Government and the tribunal. The House is currently awash with rumours about what may be contained in the draft report and about what is going on," Mr Gilmore told the Tánaiste.
"It has been suggested to me that one department, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, issued an initial statement on Friday night stating that the Government had rejected the findings of the tribunal.
"It would be remarkable for such a statement to have been issued, particularly since the tribunal has not yet reported to the House.
"Is the Government considering legal action to block publication of the report in its entirety or some parts of the report?" he asked.
"The tribunal was established by the House and reports to it. There are rumours all over the place about what is, or is not, in the report and what the Government's reaction will be.
"Has the Government or any individual Minister received the report?" he went on.
Besides making the threat of an injunction to The Irish Times, the tribunal also warned The Sunday Business Postbefore it went to press on Saturday not to publish, although so far it has not said if it tried to act against The Sunday Times.
The Irish edition of the Rupert-Murdoch-owned newspaper subsequently led with a report on the draft findings, and this story remains available on the newspaper's website.
The tribunal on Monday is understood to have written to The Sunday Timesand warned it not to publish any further material on the subject.
In reply to Mr Gilmore, the Tánaiste said "the Government has not seen any report, nor has it commented on a report. The proper processes and procedures will be followed to the nth degree.
"I will certainly not speculate on anything that may or may not have been, rightly or wrongly, in the newspapers.
"It is appropriate that we continue in the vein in which we have done for many a year and that the tribunal report will be made to the House. I would not care to comment on that matter," Ms Coughlan said.
