Former Minister for Communications Michael Lowry has said he ignored the advice of a senior civil servant by meeting with bidders for the second mobile phone licence.
But Mr Lowry told the Moriarty Tribunal he was not involved in deciding who got the licence and had no inside information to give.
He confirmed meeting Denis O'Brien of ESAT and Tony Boyle of the Persona consortium during 1995.
Mr Lowry also admitted these meetings took place privately without the knowledge of departmental officials.
But he said everyone in the department knew that he was taking a hands-off approach to the second mobile phone licence, which was being decided by a special project team.
He said he never sought any involvement or information or never received any information from them.
