Lowry 'made query on behalf of consortium'

The former minister Mr Michael Lowry rang a civil servant involved in the selection of the winner of the State's second mobile phone licence competition to ask him if one of the applicants had the competition "sewn up".

Mr Fintan Towey told the resumed hearings of the tribunal that the minister told him he had had representations from parties who were concerned a decision had already been made on the winner.

He said he believed a consortium or consortium member was putting pressure on Mr Lowry and he inferred that another consortium was suggesting to Mr Lowry that the Persona consortium had the licence "in the bag".

Mr Towey said he was not surprised or concerned by the contact. It had always been believed that the minister would at some stage come into contact with an interested party. He said he formed the impression during the call that Mr Lowry was in a crowded, public place at the time, because of the background noise. He said that because of this, there was speculation afterwards in the Department that Mr Lowry may have been at a race meeting when he made the call. The call may have helped the minister get someone "off his back", Mr Towey said.

He said he had heard the rumour at the time that Persona was to get the licence to secure Motorola jobs. Motorola was part of the Persona consortium.

Mr Towey said he believed the call was made in September 1995 because at that time the team had a good idea which of the applicants for the licence was in the lead. The team had not formed a view that Esat Digifone was ahead. He said the call was put through to him as the chairman of the team, Mr Martin Brennan, was not in the Department.

He said the conversation with the minister was short. Mr Lowry said he was "under a lot of pressure" over the competition. He was receiving representations and wanted to know how it was progressing. Mr Towey said the minister gave the clear impression he was under pressure in that it was believed by one consortium that one of the applicants had the competition "sewn up" and that the result was a "foregone conclusion" and was "in the bag".

Mr Towey said he told the minister that the competition "had not reached that stage of finality at all" and that there were still "a number of players" in the competition. He may have given Mr Lowry the names of the leading consortiums at that stage but he could not be sure. He said he told the minister that he thought it might be to his advantage if he, Mr Lowry, did not know how the evaluation of the applications was proceeding.

Mr Lowry said he was satisfied with what he had heard and that he might get on to Mr Brennan later. Mr Towey said he subsequently told Mr Brennan about the contact.