Lowry knew identity of top two licence bidders before decision

THE identity of the top two ranking bidders for the State’s second mobile phone licence was known by former Communications Minister Michael Lowry before the final decision on the successful applicant was made.

The former Fine Gael minister admitted yesterday he had been informed by the head of the team of civil servants who assessed the six rival consortia bidding for the €15 million licence on October 9, 1995.

The announcement that Denis O’Brien’s Esat group was the winner of the licence was not made until a fortnight later.