MORIARTY TRIBUNAL: The solution to a problem over the fee which should be charged for the State's second mobile phone licence was suggested by a senior civil servant, the Moriarty tribunal heard yesterday.
The tribunal heard that the competition for the licence was delayed after the European Commission objected on competition grounds to the plan to have an auction for the licence while charging no fee to the Telecom Éireann subsidiary, Eircell.
Mr Martin Brennan, who chaired the committee which oversaw and judged the 1995 competition, said he came up with the idea that the licence fee be capped at £15 million while a once-off charge of £10 million would be applied to Eircell. He said it meant the Department of Finance would get the £25 million it wanted from the licence competition while the European Commission would be satisfied in relation to the competition aspect.
He said he believed the Commission would agree to the £5 million differential as the competition was an expensive process for the State.
The tribunal will resume on Tuesday.
