The chairman of Independent News & Media (IN&M), Sir Anthony O'Reilly, has told the Moriarty tribunal he was not motivated by malice in relation to an aspect of his evidence to the tribunal.
At the outset of Sir Anthony's evidence yesterday, Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, outlined the background to Sir Anthony's appearance and said he would be "testing" his evidence by asking questions about other matters that may seem to be irrelevant. He instanced the relationship between the Rainbow Coalition government and IN&M.
Mr Coughlan said Mr Michael Lowry, in a statement of intended evidence, had mentioned an alleged conversation between Sir Anthony and Mr Lowry at a race meeting at the Curragh. Sir Anthony, in responding with his statement of intended evidence, had mentioned an alleged comment by Mr Lowry during a meeting with Sir Anthony at the opening of the Arcon mine in Galmoy, Co Kilkenny, in September 1995.
Sir Anthony said yesterday that the meeting in Galmoy was his first meeting with the then minister for transport, energy and communications. While they were walking to the tent where lunch was to be served, Mr Lowry had said: "Your fellas didn't do too well yesterday." Sir Anthony said he did not understand what Mr Lowry meant.
"It was such a strange turn of speech to me because I wasn't aware of who 'these fellas' were."
He said Mr Lowry explained that he was referring to the oral presentation made to his Department by representatives of a consortium in which Sir Anthony was interested and which was bidding for the State's second mobile phone licence. Mr Coughlan explained that the licence competition was supposed to be one that was sealed, even from the minister. If Mr Lowry did make the comment alleged, then the competition may have been compromised, he said.
Sir Anthony said he was not aware at the time of the rules in relation to the competition. He was at the time chief executive of Heinz, he said.
Mr Coughlan said the tribunal had heard evidence of IN&M being unhappy with Mr Lowry and his Department because of the failure to take action against unlicensed TV deflector operators at a time when IN&M had invested millions of pounds in a licensed TV channel distribution business.
He asked if Sir Anthony was "motivated by malice towards Mr Lowry" and if Sir Anthony "made up" the alleged Galmoy conversation to cause difficulty for Mr Lowry in his dealings with the tribunal.
Sir Anthony said he had "no malice towards Mr Lowry and certainly not in relation to this matter. The question of malice would not come into it." He said the response to such difficulty with a minister or Department was not to feel malice but to feel "affronted". The "law of the land was not being implemented" as a result of political factors, he said.
Sir Anthony disputed Mr Lowry's statement that the two men had met in Sir Anthony's box at the races at the Curragh on Derby Day, July 1995. He said he believed the meeting occurred the following year, on June 30th, 1996. "In any event, Mr Lowry had seriously misrepresented what took place." He said he never informed Mr Lowry that he expected his consortium would be successful in its application for the licence. He said he was "taken aback" when he was informed that Mr Lowry was making these "unfounded allegations" against him and could only conclude that he was doing so with a view to causing him as much damage as possible.
Sir Anthony said he also disputed Mr Lowry's contention that he, Sir Anthony, had "demanded" that Mr Lowry take action against the illegal TV deflector groups during the meeting at the races.
Sir Anthony instanced a number of issues to support his case that the meeting at the races was in 1996 and not 1995. The licence competition outcome was announced in October 1995. He said the consortium with which he was associated, Irish Cellular Telephones, had not submitted its bid by July 1995. The bids were submitted on August 4th, 1995.
