"It was a friendly and informal meeting," says financier Mr Dermot Desmond of his encounter in mid-1990 with Mr Oliver Barry and Mr James Stafford of Century Radio and Mr P.J. Mara, the government press secretary. "It was not particularly friendly, and very formal," says Mr Stafford, of the same meeting.
While they don't agree on much, Mr Desmond and Mr Stafford are unanimous on two things - the meeting took place, and it was about money. Mr Stafford was "absolutely clear" that Mr Barry had told him at least three times Mr Mara was looking for money he claimed was owed by Century. It was never clear why the money was due, the witness explained.
A meeting was called in Mr Desmond's office; at this Mr Desmond said Mr Mara owed him £100,000, and he wanted this repaid, partly through Century coughing up £30,000 - the alleged debt to Mr Mara.
Mr Stafford said he rejected these overtures. There was no contract with Mr Mara, and no obligation. When he suggested there was something improper about the affair, "they couldn't get me out of the meeting fast enough".
Mr Mara said he had discussed with Mr Barry the possibility of working as a consultant for Century. His fee would be £60,000 to £70,000 a year, plus stock options, but this was too much for the station. Nothing came of the proposal. Both Mr Mara and Mr Desmond agree there was a meeting, but insist this was only about Century employing Mr Mara. Mr Desmond's assertion he had no other dealings with Century would seem to contradict earlier evidence to the effect that he was seeking to buy shares in the station on behalf of a client.
For most of yesterday, the questioning of Mr Stafford remained bogged down in the issue of the fee the new commercial station would pay RTE in return for transmitting its signal nationally.
There were four applicants for the national radio licence, awarded in January 1989, three of which were considered to be in with a shout. All submitted detailed applications and were questioned orally at a hearing in the National Concert Hall. Six days later, Century won the franchise.
Last week, we learned Century somehow knew in advance it would not be questioned at the oral hearings about the £375,000 it was prepared to pay RTE. This was just as well, as it didn't have any breakdown of this figure. Century, in fact, warned the IRTC it wouldn't be viable if it had to pay more. But was the IRTC aware that RTE and the Department of Communications had agreed on a fee of £692,000, and that former communications minister Mr Ray Burke was satisfied with this figure? If it was, and this figure was applied, then Century would not have been viable, and couldn't have won the franchise.
It also emerged yesterday that Century's two main rivals for the licence assessed their transmission bills at around £1.2 million. By promising to set up a national radio service with significantly lower costs, Century stole a march on its rivals. This may have been the clincher when the IRTC awarded the franchise. No one on the IRTC thought to ask about discrepancies in the figures at the oral hearings, but immediately afterwards the commission asked Century for a breakdown of its overall sum.
There followed a period of negotiation between Century and RTE, although the word "negotiation" is a bit strong, considering Mr Stafford refused to budge from £375,000. In March, Mr Burke directed that RTE cut its charges.
pcullen@irish-times.ie