Mobile phone licence - Taxpayers paying a heavy price

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for unsuccessful bidders to challenge the awarding of the second mobile telephone licence to Esat Digifone in May 1996.

Two of the unsuccessful companies initiated their cases in 2001.

They were seeking extensive damages, but the State secured a High Court order blocking the case in 2007 on the grounds of inordinate and inexcusable delays. This has since been appealed to the Supreme Court on the grounds that the companies were entitled to await the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal into the awarding of the licence.

The tribunal concluded that former communications minister Michael Lowry’s had been “profoundly corrupt to a degree that was nothing short of breathtaking”.

Mr Justice Michael Moriarty went on to conclude that Mr Lowry had assisted businessman Denis O’Brien in acquiring the mobile telephone licence for his company in 1996. In his final report the judge concluded Mr Lowry had “beyond doubt” provided “substantive information to Mr O’Brien, of significant value and assistance to him in securing the licence”.

Such findings would seem to have strengthened the claims of the two companies to appeal the High Court decision. Ms Justice Susan Denham, the chief justice, announced yesterday that the Supreme Court had upheld the appeals of the two companies and was referring the case back to the High Court, which is not expected to hear it for some time.

Mr O’Brien and Mr Lowry have both welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision. Both confidently predict that they will be vindicated.

Nobody should assume that this case will go one way or another, but neither should anybody be deluded into thinking that the whole thing has been other than a legal horror story. This will be the case regardless of the High Court’s findings.

The Moriarty Tribunal ended up sitting much longer than it initially anticipated. The ultimate costs are already expected to exceed €100m.

If the State used that much money to built something, one might expect a magnificent structure, but it seems that all there is to show for that money is a legal cesspool, in which all of the major political parties of the time have been mired. This whole sorry saga has been a blistering indictment not only of business and political structures but also of the judicial system itself.

More money is inevitably going to be expended in the latest case. Although Mr Justice Moriarty did not mince his words in his tribunal report, nobody was ultimately held responsible.

The Supreme Court decision in the forthcoming case could either vindicate or undermine the tribunal report. Surely it is high time that the culpable should be held responsible. Instead, taxpayers are being compelled to pay an exorbitant price. This is not remotely related to any form of proper justice.