The Moriarty Tribunal

Denis O'Brien's name is inextricably linked with the Moriarty Tribunal. The inquiry was set up to investigate payments to politicians and its terms of reference named Michael Lowry. After 14 years its findings were published.

The Moriarty Tribunal found it was "beyond doubt" that Michael Lowry imparted substantive

information to Denis O'Brien which was "of significant value and assistance to him in securing" the licence for Esat.

It concluded that, over a three-year period, Michael Lowry received payments from Denis O'Brien through a series of "clandestine" property deals involving third parties.

In the documentary Michael Lowry says: "There was no magic pot of gold. The reason for that is it never existed. It was phantom. And I was subjected to 14 years of the Moriarty Tribunal and at the end of it the tribunal came to conclusions which weren't based on evidence, which weren't based on fact, and which were not substantiated in any way by evidence from anybody."

In an interview on the Six One News on the day the report was published Denis O'Brien said: "They looked at every bank account I had in the world...And they still couldn't find a payment that I made to Michael Lowry because I never did. Not one red cent went to Michael Lowry when he was minister, a government official, when he was a TD or a private citizen."

But the Moriarty Report was severely critical of Denis O'Brien and Michael Lowry.

It said Michael Lowry received "IR£147,000 from Mr Denis O'Brien in July 1996, stg£300,000 from Mr Denis O'Brien in March 1999 and benefit to the equivalent of a payment in the form of Mr O'Brien's support of a loan of stg£420,000 in December 1999."

While the Moriarty Tribunal was running in Dublin Castle, Denis O'Brien built up a shareholding in publisher Independent News & Media until he controlled 29.9% of the company.

His shareholding was in addition to his ownership of five radio stations, including Today FM and Newstalk. This has given rise to concerns about the concentration of media ownership in Ireland.

Those concerns were increased when, in April 2018, the High Court heard allegations of a significant data breach at Independent News & Media.

The Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement wants the High Court to appoint inspectors to investigate allegations that 19 people, including journalists, may have had emails and other data searched. The High Court was told a company beneficially owned by Denis O'Brien paid a firm to extract the data. It is not clear whether he was aware of this or not.

Denis O'Brien has not commented on the allegations.

The case is still before the courts.