Independent TD, Michael Lowry, who was communications minister at the time, is a notice party in the case

Businessman Denis O'Brien, along with the State, is being sued by the Persona/Sigma consortium, one of the unsuccessful bidders for the country's second mobile phone licence

Mr Doherty said Mr Lowry should ‘come clean’ about his involvement in a bid to purchase property related to Doncaster Rovers.

But the Tánaiste defended his decision to go into government with Mr Lowry’s Regional Independents group

Michael Lowry has maintained that there was no wrongdoing in the awarding of the phone licence which was the subject of a Tribunal.

In 2018 the Independent TD successfully appealed a decision by the tribunal to only award him one third of the costs of his legal representation.