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.

The Moriarty Tribunal is examining whether there were any flaws in the assessment process for the phone licence.

Mr Lowry acknowledged yesterday that he was told before the final decision was made that Esat and a rival consortium, Persona, were the leading two contenders. However, he insisted that he was not aware which of them was ahead in the ranking.

He also expressed surprise that a department official had noted around the same time that the minister had wanted “to accelerate” the process.

Lawyers for Mr Lowry objected to questions by Tribunal barrister, John Coughlan SC that such information suggested there had been breaches in the “sealed process” of assessing the bids.

Mr Lowry also denied having any knowledge about the role of IIU, a company owned by the controversial financier, Dermot Desmond, in having a share in Mr O’Brien consortium.

“I was effectively totally out of the loop,” stressed Mr Lowry.