Michael Lowry

For the American soap opera actor, see Michael Lowry (actor).

Michael Lowry TD
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office February 1987
Constituency	Tipperary North
Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications
In office 15 December 1994 – 30 November 1996
Preceded by	Brian Cowen
Succeeded by	John Bruton
Personal details
Born	13 March 1953 (1953-03-13) County Tipperary, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Independent (since 1997)
Other political affiliations	Fine Gael (1979–97)
Website	www.michaellowry.ie

Michael Lowry (born 13 March 1953) is an Irish politician. He is currently a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Tipperary North constituency and continues to enjoy high popularity in his constituency despite being the subject of a criminal investigation resulting from various scandals while in office.

Early life

Michael Lowry was born in County Tipperary and educated at Thurles CBS.

Career

Local government and community work

Lowry was elected to Tipperary North Riding County Council in 1979. He was an administrator in the Gaelic Athletic Association in the early 1980s as the youngest ever Chairman of the Tipperary County Committee. Later, as chairman of the Semple Stadium Development Committee, he was largely instrumental in raising the necessary funds for the refurbishment of the Stadium in preparation for the All-Ireland Centenary Hurling final in 1984.

Dáil Éireann

He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD for Tipperary North at the 1987 general election and in 1993 he became Chairman of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party.

Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications

In 1994 he was appointed Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications in the Rainbow Coalition government.

Controversies

A succession of controversies broke during his period of office. These included allegations of irregularities related to the granting of a mobile phone licence to Esat Telecom which was later investigated by the Moriarty Tribunal, plans for the Dublin Light Rail System and the closure of rural post offices. At the 1997 McCracken Tribunal it was revealed that supermarket tycoon Ben Dunne had paid IR£395,000 for an extension to Lowry's home in Tipperary. The Tribunal concluded that Lowry had evaded tax.

This allegation prompted Lowry's resignation from the Cabinet in November 1996. Taoiseach John Bruton announced that Lowry would not be allowed stand as a Fine Gael candidate at the next election and he resigned from the party.

Resignation and career as independent TD

Lowry announced that he would stand as an independent candidate in the 1997. He topped the poll in his constituency in that election and did so again in the 2002 and 2007 general elections.

Investigation by Moriarty Tribunal

The investigation of payments to Lowry is one of the remits of the Moriarty Tribunal which sat from 1997 to 2011. In early 2007, Lowry announced that he had made a full and final settlement of all outstanding payments with the Revenue Commissioners in response to the findings concerning his tax evasion. His company Garuda had to pay up €1.2 million after a Revenue audit. He also paid almost €200,000 to settle his personal taxes.

In March 2011 the second and final report from the Moriarty Tribunal found that, during his time as Communications Minister, Michael Lowry assisted businessman Denis O'Brien's consortium Esat Digiphone in acquiring a lucrative mobile phone licence in the mid-90s which ultimately made O'Brien one of the richest men in Ireland.

It concluded that it is 'beyond doubt' that Lowry gave what it termed 'substantive information to Denis O'Brien, of significant value and assistance to him in securing the licence'. The Tribunal report found that Lowry, displayed 'an appreciable interest' in the process and had 'irregular interactions with interested parties at its most sensitive stages'. It also found that one of Lowry's interventions, which cut the selection process to the advantage of Esat, was 'disgraceful' and 'insidious', and that he had misled the Government, his party leader John Bruton and his own civil servants to influence the selection process in Esat's favour.

The tribunal also found that Lowry sought to procure unwarranted rent increases that over a seven-year period would have benefited businessman Ben Dunne. Lowry sought to influence the outcome of an arbitration being conducted in 1995 in relation to the rent payable by the then state-owned Telecom Éireann for Marlborough House to a company owned and controlled by Dunne. The report said that the matter was 'profoundly corrupt to a degree that was nothing short of breathtaking'.

The report also summarised the cumulative payments made to Lowry and says 'In aggregating the known payments from Mr Denis O'Brien to Mr Michael Lowry, it is apposite to note that, between the granting of the second GSM licence to Esat Digiphone in May 1996, and the transmission of £420,000 sterling to complete the purchase of the latter of Mr Lowry's English properties in December 1999, Mr O'Brien had made or facilitated payments to Mr Lowry of £147,000 sterling, £300,000 sterling and a benefit equivalent to a payment in the form of Mr O'Brien's support for a loan of £420,000 sterling.'

Lowry had addressed the Dáil saying that if he had been trying to hide a lot of money he would have “put it in an offshore account”, implying that no such account existed. The Tribunal found that he actually had at least four such accounts that he used for the purpose of evading tax and had not disclosed these accounts to the previous McCracken Tribunal.

Aftermath of allegations

Lowry rejected the Moriarty report saying that it was flawed, saying that the assumptions and the conclusions that Justice Moriarty arrived at are totally baseless. Nonetheless, the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Bureau of Fraud were called in on 29 March 2011 to begin investigating his finances since his €1.4m settlement with the revenue commissioners did not grant him immunity from prosecution.

On 31 March 2011, an all party motion was passed in the Dáil calling on Lowry to voluntarily resign his seat in light of the publication of the Moriarty Report.

Defamation laswuit

In 2010, Lowry launched a defamation lawsuit against Irish Independent journalist Sam Smythe, over an article Smythe had written regarding the Moriarty Tribunal, as well as comments Smythe had made on a TV3 show describing Lowry as having been "caught with his hand in the till.". Smythe defended the defamation claim, stating he had "did not call Michael Lowry TD a thief, but did believe he was a liar and a tax cheat".. Lowry's defamation lawsuit was thrown out in the Circuit court, and again on appeal to the High Court. High Court Justice Nicholas Kearns noted that Lowry "did not dispute that he engaged in tax fraud", and ordered Lowry to pay Smythe's legal costs.

Continued popularity

Lowry is backed by a strong local organisation in Tipperary known informally as "Team Lowry" which consists of 4 County Councillors in North Tipperary, 2 Town Councillors in Thurles and 1 Town Councillor in Templemore.

Lowry was re-elected to represent Tipperary North at the 2011 general election, heading the poll on the 1st count with 14,010 votes. Along with Michael Healy Rae and Noel Grealish, he is not a member of the Dáil Technical Group.

Business interests

Lowry has directorships listed with the Companies Registration Office. He has two roles with Garuda Ltd, a manufacturer of electric domestic appliances; Abbeygreen Consulting, which involves construction work and special trades; and Gdlc Business Consultants Ltd., a business and management consultancy registered in Dublin.

External links

• Official website

Oireachtas
Preceded by David Molony (Fine Gael)	Fine Gael Teachta Dála for Tipperary North 1987–1997	Succeeded by Himself as Independent TD
Preceded by Himself as Fine Gael TD	Independent Teachta Dála for Tipperary North 1997–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Brian Cowen	Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications 1994–1996	Succeeded by John Bruton
Party political offices
Preceded by Tom Enright	Chairman of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party 1993–1994	Succeeded by Jim Higgins