FORMER Energy Minister Bobby Molloy told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he was unaware his predecessor had given a Dáil commitment that State lands in Co Wicklow would be sold by public tender.

FORMER Communications Minister Michael Lowry has admitted he ignored the advice of his senior civil servants in agreeing to meet businessmen involved in bidding for the State’s second mobile phone licence during 1995.

THE speed at which Michael Lowry announced Esat Digifone as winner of the competition for the State’s second mobile phone licence surprised former top civil servant Fintan Towey, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

FORMER civil servant John McQuaid, a member of the team that selected the winner of the State’s second mobile phone licence competition nearly eight years ago, told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday there was “a fairly hard argument” on whether more time was needed to improve the draft evaluation report two days before the result was made public.

SENIOR civil servant Ed O’Callaghan told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he was never put under political pressure in his life.

SENIOR civil servant Sean MacMahon agreed yesterday there was political or ministerial pressure to get the State’s second mobile phone licence competition concluded in October 1995.

A CIVIL servant told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he would have blown the whistle if he was pressurised from doing his job.

FORMER Communications Minister Michael Lowry announced that Esat Digifone had won the GSM2 licence competition two days after civil servants had been given a further week to finalise their evaluation report, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

FORMER department secretary general John Loughrey told the tribunal yesterday he stood over the process that resulted in Esat Digifone getting the licence for the country’s second mobile telephone service.

FINANCIER Dermot Desmond has personally contacted Mr Justice Michael Moriarty on a number of occasions to complain about the way the tribunal is conducting its inquiry, the clearly annoyed chairman said yesterday.

FORMER department secretary general John Loughrey insisted yesterday there was nothing sinister in the fact that civil servants took no notes of vital meetings with Esat Digifone executives just days before the consortium got the country’s second GSM licence.

THE former department secretary general John Loughrey yesterday regretted allowing civil servants hold a press conference in April 1996 to defend their decision to give the second mobile telephone licence to Esat Digifone.

A RETIRED civil servant told the Moriarty Tribunal he never had any direct business dealings with financier Dermot Desmond.

A CIVIL servant has told the Moriarty Tribunal that at no stage in the competition for the State’s second mobile phone licence was he subjected to any influence intended to compromise his independence.

SENIOR civil servant Martin Brennan told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he would have probed Dermot Desmond’s link to the second mobile phone licence if he had known about the financier’s part in an earlier controversial property deal.

TWO senior civil servants had reservations about Esat Telecom’s approach to regulations governing the telecom sector, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

A FEW days before Esat Digifone got the second mobile phone licence, Michael Lowry sought information on Dermot Desmond’s finances, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

THE Moriarty Tribunal will today embark on the most complex phase of the five-year-old inquiry when it examines the background to the awarding of the State's second mobile phone licence to Denis O'Brien's Esat Digifone group.