O'Reilly was seen as likely winner

US companies involved in a bid for the State's second mobile phone licence felt confident they would win because Sir Anthony O'Reilly formed part of their consortium, the tribunal was told.

The former senior adviser to the Rainbow Coalition, Mr SeáDonlon, said he was asked by the US ambassador, Ms Jean Kennedy Smith, in 1995, if the decision in relation to the licence competition would be made by the government. He checked and later informed her that it would be.

This was in late August or early September 1995, he said. Ms Kennedy Smith was assisting in the promotion of US corporate interests, which was a proper thing for her to do and something he had done on postings abroad for the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr Donlon said.

He told Mr Richard Nesbitt SC, for the former department of transport, energy and communications, that Ms Kennedy Smith wanted to know who would make the decision in relation to the competition so she would know who to lobby. He said he suspected he also told her that "lobbying would not have been the best course of action". Her request for information was so that she could know how she could "best influence the outcome of the competition".

Mr Donlon said that Ms Kennedy Smith had said to him, after the licence competition, that US interests had been confident they would win the licence because of Sir Anthony O'Reilly's involvement in their consortium. Sir Anthony was involved in the Irish Cellular Telephones bid.

He said he met the US ambassador very frequently at around this time, possibly as often as every second day. He said Ms Kennedy Smith's comment to him about the US interests having failed was in a context of expressing disappointment.

He said Ms Kennedy Smith was a "somewhat aggressive person" and would not hesitate to convey how she felt in relation to a particular issue. Asked by Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, if he believed the US interests had felt confident because Sir Anthony was involved in their consortium, Mr Donlon said yes.

"The American interests would have seen his connections and his track record, and that if they did not guarantee a success, they gave success a very good chance," Mr Donlon said.

He also said that at an America Ireland Fund function in UCD in 1997, Sir Anthony had conveyed his displeasure with the way the government was treating his interests to Mr Donlon when the two men found themselves in the same group. There was no specific reference to the licence competition. "We both happened to be in the same group and he turned to me and made a remark to indicate his unhappiness," Mr Donlon said.

Mr Donlon said his duties as senior adviser to the taoiseach included a number of matters. He was involved in regular meetings with programme advisers to the various government ministers. He said an objective of the government was that matters would not reach Cabinet stage until they had progressed to the stage where a decision could be made.