Official sought to dispel 'innuendo'

The civil servant who chaired the team which selected the winner of the 1995 mobile-phone licence competition said a press conference a few months after the event to deal with "speculation and innuendo" in the media was held at his instigation.

Contrary to press reports since, he and other civil servants who answered questions at the time had not been "fielded" by the minister, Mr Michael Lowry "to cover his backside".

The tribunal heard that on April 18th, 1996, a letter was sent to media organisations inviting them to send representatives to the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications the next day.

The letter, from Mr Lowry, said "a six-month campaign of speculation and innuendo" in the media in relation to the licence competition had gone "beyond the level of acceptability or fair comment" and involved questioning the "integrity of the civil servants and professional advisers who were directly or indirectly involved".

Key members of the evaluation team would be available for questioning at the press briefing, the letter said.

A press statement issued at the briefing said media coverage of the competition outcome "indicates a grave absence of relevant verifiable facts and has given rise to inappropriate innuendoes and assumptions".

Mr Brennan said it was he who pushed for the briefing. "I was frustrated and I was urging that something be done . . . We were shipping a lot of damage." His first suggestion was the the team's final report and all the relevant papers be handed over to a senior counsel to be chosen, and paid for, by the losing bidders so that the doubts which existed could be put to rest. This idea was not accepted.

Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, said that by April 19th the Department knew that the financial institutions named in the Digifone bid had been replaced by Mr Dermot Desmond's IIU Ltd. However, this was not disclosed at the briefing despite repeated questions.

Mr Brennan said that someone, possibly the departmental secretary, Mr John Loughrey, decided that this information should be disclosed at the actual awarding of the licence.

The competition had given Digifone the exclusive right to negotiate for the licence. He said the "campaign" in the media was about more than just the issue of ownership.

The tribunal heard that the Department was informed for the first time of the changes in the Digifone consortium on April 16th 1996, when Mr Owen O'Connell, a solicitor with William Fry solicitors, disclosed that IIU Nominees Ltd was to get 25 per cent of Digifone.

A letter sent by him on the following day said: "It is understood that most or all of the shares held by IIU Nominees Ltd will in due course be disposed of by it, probably to private and institutional investors." Mr Brennan said that the letter was "a significant item".

The tribunal also heard that Mr Lowry sent a letter to the ESB and other semi-State companies in March 1996 urging them to make sites available for masts necessary for the Digifone network. Mr Lowry said that if this was not done voluntarily he would consider doing it by way of regulation.