Mara paid 'big' fee after phone licence success

Moriarty tribunal: The Fianna Fáil strategist and former government press secretary Mr P. J. Mara was paid a "big" success fee after Esat Digifone won the State's second mobile phone licence. He was also paid a consultancy fee.

Asked at the tribunal yesterday what services he provided for the payments, Mr Mara said he provided public relations consultancy services, giving advice to Mr Denis O'Brien on a "broad or macro" basis. When asked by Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, why someone would hire his services, Mr Mara said: "Because I am very good."

He said his function would have been to have an overview. He told Mr Healy it was not unlike his, Mr Healy's profession, where "you'd have an eminent silk" who would be assisted by others. Pressed on the issue, Mr Mara said he had experience that others did not because "he had been around the block a number of times".

Mr Mara said he was not consulted about the idea of making political donations to Fine Gael. He said he would not have been particularly useful to Mr O'Brien in relation to Fine Gael. Asked if he was consulted about political donations to Fianna Fáil made in 1994, Mr Mara said he was in "internal exile in the Fianna Fáil party" at the time.

Mr Mara said he would have a sense of how senior politicians and civil servants "looked at things". However, he said he was not consulted about the decision to send a letter to the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, in September, 1995, advising the Department that Mr Dermot Desmond was now involved with the Esat Digifone consortium.

He said it was mentioned to him by Mr O'Brien following an oral presentation to the Department in early September 1995, that the financial aspect of the Esat Digifone bid might be seen as weak. He said to Mr O'Brien that something should be done about it, but did not suggest what.

Mr Mara said he could not recall when he was told that Mr Desmond had become involved, but he believed it was after the announcement that Esat Digifone had won the licence competition.

Mr Mara said he would not have been "a particularly suitable gent" to approach the Department given its then management and his political history. Asked by Mr Healy if that would have been the thing to do, and whether there were such gents, Mr Mara said: "If there are, I am not one of them." He said he had attended meetings with ministers, accompanied by others, but not on this occasion.

Mr Mara was asked to point to a contribution he had made that would have merited the "big payment" he received at the end of the day. He said he thought contributions such as his tend to be made up of a "series of small steps". He said impression can be as important as reality. Mr O'Brien had strengths which were not well known at the time. His job, he said, was to get this impression out into the wider world.

When Mr Rossa Fanning, for Mr Michael Lowry, said Mr Mara was known more as a "Svengali figure" in Irish politics than as a public relations consultant, Mr Mara said: "Very kind."

He agreed he had an insider's view of how government worked. He said he had no dealings with Mr Lowry in relation to the licence issue. He knew Mr Lowry well and had social dealings with him. "I like Michael Lowry, he's a good guy," he said. The tribunal resumes today.