Banks promised support if Esat won phone licence

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.

Kyran McLaughlin, then joint chief executive of J&E Davy Stockbrokers, said Mr O'Brien and fellow Esat Telecom director John Callaghan approached him in April 1995 seeking support from financial institutions for Digifone's licence bid.

He told them it would be difficult to generate support from institutional investors as the eventual financial terms of the licence were unknown and it would be difficult to put a precise financial proposal to potential investors.