A former civil servant has told the Moriarty Tribunal he believes the competition, which led to the awarding of the state's second mobile phone licence, was carried out in good faith and the winning application was the best one.
The Tribunal also heard details of a telephone conversation during which then minister, Michael Lowry, complained of pressures on him from bidders for the licence.
Fintan Towey is the latest in a long line of civil servants who have come to this tribunal and asserted the same belief: that the process which led to the awarding of this licence was fair and that no external pressure was exerted which could have affected the result.
But Mr Towey's account of a telephone conversation with Michael Lowry around this time would appear to show that pressure may have been bearing down elsewhere.
Fintan Towey says the then Minister phoned him one day during the confidential evaluation process.
The Minister told him he was coming under a lot of pressure, one of the consortia believed that the competition was already sewn up and the licence was 'in the bag'.
Mr Towey says it sounded as if Michael Lowry was phoning from a race meeting, or some other crowded place.
He says he believed the Minister was referring to rumours circulating at the time that a consortium led by Motorola had been promised the licence.
Fintan Towey made it clear to the Minister that as yet there was no winner.
Mr Towey says he also told the minister that he might be better off not having knowledge as to how the competition was proceeding.
