THREE Irish banks that promised financial support if Denis O’Brien’s Esat Digifone won the country’s second mobile phone licence expressed their concern at the way financier Dermot Desmond came on board, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

ATTEMPTS by chairman Denis O’Brien to gain control of Esat Digifone threatened to collapse the Irish/Norwegian consortium bidding for the country’s second mobile licence, a witness told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday.