LAST UPDATE | 16 Dec
TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS has defended his party engaging in government formation talks with Independent Tipperary TD Michael Lowry today.
In previous years, when government formation talks have taken place there has been lots of talk from different parties about whether it was palatable or acceptable to do a post-election deal with Lowry.
Asked about the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal in relation to Lowry, who is the point of contact for the Regional Group of Independents, Harris said “we have to remember the public voted for deputy Lowry in very large numbers in Tipperary on many occasions since the Moriarty Tribunal”.
He said when you’re elected to the Dáil, there is a duty to try form a government.
“My party is trying to form a government and we’re working with Fianna Fáil to try and form a stable government,” he added.
Harris added that Lowry has supported many governments over many years.
“From my point of view, the most important thing is the policy programme that government delivers. And my priority now is on getting as much of the Fine Gael manifesto implemented as possible,” he said.
Lowry, a former Fine Gael Minister for Communications, was forced to resign from Cabinet in 1996 following a succession of political scandals. He was barred from standing as a Fine Gael candidate in the election the following year but ran as an independent and topped the poll.
The McCracken Tribunal later revealed that the supermarket tycoon Ben Dunne paid for the extension to Lowry’s home in Tipperary and concluded that he had evaded tax.
In 2007, Lowry was among the independents whom Bertie Ahern’s Fianna Fáil negotiated deals with in return for their support of the government in the Dáil. The deal brought significant investment to Tipperary.
In 2011, the Moriarty Tribunal found that Lowry had an “insidious and pervasive influence” on the bidding process for the second mobile phone licence in Ireland when he was a minister in the 1990s.
The licence was granted to the Denis O’Brien-owned Esat Telecom in 1995. The tribunal found that O’Brien made or facilitated payments of hundreds of thousands of sterling to Lowry. Lowry and O’Brien have both rejected the findings.
Shortly after the report was published the Dáil passed an all-party motion to censure Lowry and called on him to resign his seat. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin was particularly strong in his calls to resign. The motion was non-binding so Lowry was under no obligation to resign.
In 2013, the ‘Lowry Tapes’ controversy centred on a 2004 phone call between Lowry and land agent Kevin Phelan in which they discussed a sum of between STG£200,000 and €250,000, which the Sunday Independent reported Lowry as saying he paid to Phelan, but that the TD added during the call: “I never declared it”. Lowry has denied wrongdoing, saying the payment was fully tax compliant.
Later that year, Lowry’s home was raided by officials from Revenue investigating his tax affairs.
He was later charged with several counts of filing incorrect tax returns during the period between 2003 and 2007.
In 2018, Lowry was convicted of delivering an incorrect corporation tax return and failing to keep a proper set of accounts for the years between 2002 and 2007.
Lowry, was also embroiled in a sexism controversy when it emerged that he passed a note to Enda Kenny in the Dáil asking him to reappoint Valerie O’Reilly to the board of the National Transport Authority.
In the note, Lowry asks Kenny if he would consider reappointing O’Reilly, describing her as “a woman, bright, intelligent and not bad looking either!”
More recently, only this year, Lowry was interviewed by gardaí from the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) who are investigating matters related to the Moriarty Tribunal.
When matters such as these were raised with Harris this morning, he repeated that Lowry has a mandate to represent the people of Tipperary.
“He also has a mandate to participate in government formation talks,” he added.
“Absolutely, it’s up to people to decide who they do and don’t wish to go into government with, but we’re not having a conversation individually with any one TD, we’re talking to a regional group that has come together.
“I think the actions that they’ve taken in terms of coming together as a group, operating as a group, considering how they approach a programme for government talks as a group, means that we’re not having individual engagement with Deputy X or Deputy Y, but actually we’re engaging with a regional group of independents,” Harris said.
Government formating talks are continuing this week, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to continue to meet each other over today and over the coming days.
There are further plans for meetings with Independents, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats.
On Wednesday, the 34th Dáil will sit for the first time before breaking for the Christmas period. TDs will vote by secret ballot to elect a new Ceann Comhairle for the Dáil.
Over the last week, the horse trading around this position has increased and it’s understood it has formed a key part of government formation negotiations between Fianna Fáil and Independent TDs.
With a salary of €255,000 attached to the role, it is a better paid position than the Taoiseach. Speaking to The Journal last week, Aontú TD Peadár Tóibín called for the pay attached to the position to be cut and term limits to be introduced.
For the last two Dáils, Fianna Fáil’s Seán Ó Fearghaíl has held the position and is expected to seek a third term. However, he is in contest with Fianna Fáil’s John McGuinness, Independent TD Verona Murphy and Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh.
Meanwhile, Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik and TDs Alan Kelly and Marie Sherlock met with Taoiseach Simon Harris, Helen McEntee and Paschal Donohoe today.
Harris said the group had a constructive conversation which focused on policy. He added that Labour has its own processes and will continue internal discussions.
Tomorrow, the same delegation from the Labour party will meet with Micheál Martin tomorrow afternoon at 2.30pm. Martin confirmed this morning that his party will also continue talks with Independents this week.
The Fianna Fáil leader said a “significant” number of Independents would be required to give a government stability to last five years.
“What I’m focused on is putting together a government that can last five years, and that will obviously entail compromises, and will mean that we have to make sure that we put a solid combination together that can last to five years,” Martin said.
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