Mr McCourt leads the last remaining bid for the national rural broadband contract worth up to €500 million. The Taoiseach said on Friday that Mr Naughten changed his story a number of times in relation to those dinner meetings with Mr McCourt. It had emerged on Wednesday that Mr Naughten had paid for a lunch for Mr McCourt when he visited the Dáil on April 18th last. Mr Naughten told the Dáil the booking for the lunch was made under his name but he did not meet Mr Mc Court on the day. Mr Naughten said nobody at Thursday morning’s meeting showed any surprise when additional appointments with Mr McCourt were mentioned.

Source: The Irish Times October 12, 2018 16:39 UTC