Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has insisted he had no hand, act or part in the awarding of the second mobile phone licence.
The Fine Gael TD told the Moriarty Tribunal he had no memory of a meeting with Denis O’Brien in October 1995 before the licence was granted.
But Fianna Fáil has targeted Mr Hogan, claiming the inquiry did not accept his evidence.
“From a personal perspective I do regret the efforts of some of the deputies opposite to try and cast a smear over my character arising from the publication of this report,” Mr Hogan told the Dáil.
“I had no hand, act or part in the process to award the licence, or in the subsequent decision to award the licence by the Government.”
Mr Hogan told the Tribunal that a meeting with himself, Mr O’Brien and the late TD Jim Mitchell at a Dublin restaurant in October 1995 did not take place, or if it did he did not remember it, despite claims by Fine Gael trustee Mark FitzGerald that he was present.
Mr Hogan told the tribunal the first time he met Mr O’Brien was at a fundraising event for a Wicklow by-election in June 1995.
Mr O’Brien attended and contributed £5,000, which Mr Hogan handed on to the local constituency association.
Mr Hogan also recalled getting £1,000 at a fundraising lunch in his Carlow-Kilkenny constituency in March 1995, but did not think Mr O’Brien attended in person.
“I would ask the members on all sides, and indeed the public, to accept my bona fides in relation to this matter, and to acknowledge that an alleged meeting in a coffee shop by a backbench TD could result in influence in the outcome of a mobile phone competition is very far fetched indeed,” Mr Hogan said.
The veteran TD said Mr Justice Michael Moriarty was not critical of his evidence and made no adverse finding or conclusion against him.
He said he was a backbencher at the time the licence was awarded and was remote and detached from the decision.
PA