Losing mobile phone consortium to sue State for millions

THE consortium beaten to the country's second mobile phone licence will proceed with a multi-million euro civil action against the State irrespective of the Moriarty Tribunal's findings, said Persona chairman Tony Boyle.

Persona spent £5 million during the company's three-year work on the project. When the GSM2 competition was announced, staff involved in the bid worked 20-hour days, seven days a week, the tribunal heard yesterday.

In evidence yesterday, Mr Boyle insisted financier Dermot Desmond told him during the Grand National at Aintree in April 1995, he was not getting involved in the GSM2 bid process.