O'Brien has spent €7.5m defending himself

Businessman Denis O'Brien has spent €7.5 million defending himself before the Moriarty tribunal.

Eoin McGonigal SC, for Mr O'Brien, said that while his client was a wealthy man, no individual should be placed in a position where such costs were necessary.

He said it was unfair that Mr O'Brien had to incur such costs over a four-year, and continuing, period, when counsel for the tribunal were being paid on a monthly basis.

"At some stage somebody must say stop and bring this tribunal to an end. The tribunal should report that the competition was clean and the best bid won." Counsel for the former minister for communications, Michael Lowry, said his client's constitutional rights had been breached.

Rossa Fanning said recent correspondence between the tribunal and the Secretary for the Government contained a clear inference that the tribunal was losing the support of the Government.

He said it was now three years since the tribunal made its opening statement in the matter. Highly-damaging statements had been made about Mr Lowry, but he had not yet had an opportunity to rebut them.

This was an interference with Mr Lowry's right to his good name. It has been 18 months since the tribunal heard evidence on the matter. Mr Lowry's right to question witnesses has been "rendered obsolete" by the delay. There was no evidence that Mr Lowry had interfered with the licence process.

He also said Mr Lowry had very limited resources compared to the other parties before the tribunal and this put him at a material disadvantage.

The tribunal's legal team has been paid €15 million. Others before the tribunal had millions and hundreds of millions available to them. The tribunal adjourned.