Denis O'Brien has accused the Moriarty Tribunal of carrying out an unwarranted intrusion into his family life and into the privacy of his wife Catherine. The millionaire businessman also accused the Tribunal of having a bias against him. These comments were contained in letters from his lawyers to the Tribunal, which have been sent over the past few days. Mr O'Brien once again failed to turn up today to resume his evidence. He cited the birth of his second child and said he needed some time abroad to fulfil his parental responsibilities. The Tribunal has rejected his claim of bias.
Mr Justice Moriarty said that the Tribunal was presented with a "fait accompli". As Mr O'Brien was not in the country, he could not be compelled to attend. His comments came after counsel for the Tribunal read a number of letters between the inquiry and Denis O'Brien's lawyers. Mr O'Brien's lawyers said in these letters that Catherine O'Brien was shocked, upset and distressed by the medical emergency that had required a Caesarean operation over the weekend. Her fear and pain had been compounded by remarks made at the Tribunal last Friday and by the publicity they had generated over the weekend. She said that Friday's proceedings had provided salacious details for the titillation of the public.
The O'Brien's have objected to the Tribunal's request for a medical report. They said that this revealed that the chairman had doubts about what the Tribunal had been told about Mrs O'Brien's pregnancy. Mr Justice Moriarty denied bias and said that, while he was gratified that mother and baby were well, he did not propose to make any apology for his comments on Friday. With reference to the letters, he said that he wanted an end to what he called unseemly guerrilla warfare.
In a separate development, Denis O'Brien's father has claimed that the Moriarty Tribunal is developing into a "witch-hunt". Denis O'Brien senior told RTÉ's Liveline programme that the Tribunal was "getting out of hand" and "developing into an inquisition". He said that it was like the McCarthyite hearings of the 1950s. He added that the family found it "incredible" that the Tribunal has requested medical records on his son's wife, Catherine. Mr O'Brien said that his daughter in law was "very low" today because of all of the publicity surrounding the case and this came on top of the "trauma" of Denis being away coming up to the birth. He claimed that the family was being subjected to "unfair reporting", particularly from the Independent Group of newspapers.
