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LAST UPDATE | 26 Feb
THERE WERE TETCHY scenes in the Dáil this afternoon after opposition TDs were unhappy with the answers Taoiseach Micheál Martin was giving to their questions.
Tensions were elevated after Sinn Féin Donegal TD Pearse Doherty, for a second time in this Dáil term, raised questions about Independent Tipperary TD Michael Lowry’s involvement with a UK football club.
Doherty last month raised the 1990s controversy over the purchase of the Doncaster Rovers Football Club, which featured in the Moriarty Tribunal. Lowry, in 2007, denied he ever played any hand, act or part in the purchase of struggling English soccer club.
Doncaster Rovers was purchased by Denis O’Brien’s family in August 1998 for a reported £4.3 million. The deal was part of the tribunal’s terms of reference as it investigated financial links between O’Brian and Lowry.
Lowry’s denial was echoed by O’Brien who said the politician had no involvement in the transaction. Later, in 2011, the tribunal said it did not uncover a clear link between O’Brien, Lowry and the Doncaster deal.
However, its final report said it was satisfied the project intended some sort of payment to, or the conferral of a “pecuniary advantage on, Mr Lowry by Mr Denis O’Brien”.
After Doherty’s contributions last month, Lowry requested permission to respond to the allegations that the TD levelled against him. Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy said today that she has requested more information from the Tipperary politician first.
Today, Doherty repeated many of the claims that were included in his first contribution.
Asking the Taoiseach, Doherty today said: “[Lowry] is a government-supporting TD, and one that you’re going to a great length to accommodate.
“So can I ask you, Taoiseach, did you ask him if he had 57 meetings in relation to the Doncaster deal, including here in Leinster House and in Doncaster Football Club? A deal that he swore to the [Moriarity] Tribunal that he had no involvement in.
“Did you ask him if he went to a rural farm in August 2002, as claimed by one of those present, to burn original documents pertaining to the deals that were at the heart of the Moriarty Tribunal investigations?
“And Taoiseach, has he (Lowry) explained to you how his accountant made two separate payments that originated in Gibraltar to the person who was arranging the Doncaster deal – payments that were never disclosed to the tribunal?
Doherty concluded: “Taoiseach, I’m going to continue to answer these questions, and others, until we have answers. He is one of yours. He’s a government-supporting TD. Have you asked him even these questions in the last four weeks?”
At this stage, Murphy intervened briefly to inform the Dáil that Lowry has requested time to make a submission in response to Doherty’s claims and she is awaiting on further information before she makes a decision.
Responding, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “First of all, I understand what deputy Doherty is at here. Deputy Lowry is an independent TD, he’s not one of ours.”
The contribution was met with laughter from a number of TDs on opposition benches.
Following interventions by Murphy, Martin continued, and referenced the funeral of the late Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane this week, a senior IRA official who was sentenced in 1976 for his role in a bombing on the Shankill Road in Belfast.
In 2008, after a legal battle spanning ten years, McFarlane was cleared in Dublin’s Special Criminal Court of false imprisonment and firearms possession in relation to the 1983 kidnapping of businessman Don Tidey at Derrada Woods, where a member of the Irish Defence Forces and a trainee gardaí were shot dead by members of the IRA.
The Taoiseach said: “I’ll say one thing. You need to reflect.
“You need to reflect – and whilst a funeral happened this week, and while I’ve great time for the victims and the wife and those who have lost a loved one – the truth is, though, that your party called someone a patriot who murdered five innocent people in a bar and injured 60 more and was involved in Derrada Woods and the murder of a trainee gardaí and a member of the Defence Forces.
“No matter what Michael Lowry did, pales into insignificance in terms of what members of your movement did. I will ask you, deputy Doherty, and I’ll ask deputy McDonald -”
Members of Sinn Féin, including Doherty, asked why the Taoiseach did not answer the questions. The Ceann Comhairle intervened once more, asking the Taoiseach to allow Labour TD Alan Kelly to make his contribution.
Both Doherty and Martin continued to make remarks to each other across the Dáil.
Once the chamber had settled, Kelly asked the Taoiseach about why trainee gardaí are not vetted before they undergo their enrollment to the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary.
Responding, Martin said he would bring the issue to the attention of the Minister for Justice. Kelly, unsatisfied with his response, questioned if the Fianna Fáil leader saw the significance of the issue.
Martin said he believed vetting is important, but stated that the process is “quite limited” in what can be achieved. A brief exchange between Kelly and the Taoiseach continued until Murphy intervened again, asking Kelly to allow the next speaker to take their time.
The Ceann Comhairle then turned to Martin and said: “Taoiseach, please stop behaving like a child.”
Martin protested Murphy’s remarks, with the Ceann Comhairle arguing that the Taoiseach had not taken his seat to allow for Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney to make her contribution to the Dáil.
Gibney began her remarks, but interruptions in the Dáil continued. Amid pleas by members of government for Murphy to call for order, the Ceann Comhairle said: “What we seem to have this morning is a playground.”
Earlier, Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil heat up after Labour leader Ivana Bacik accused Martin of being “increasingly tetchy”, often “frothing with rage”, following a back and forth over the government’s record on housing.
It came after the Taoiseach accused Bacik of misquoting him and other members of government, on a number of occasions, about housing policy and questioned her party’s seriousness about the issue.
In response, Bacik said: “Your dismissive attitude and increasingly tetchy attitude in this house really indicates exactly why -”
Martin laughed at the Labour leader’s remarks, which led Bacik to stop and repeat them: “You’re increasingly tetchy, and positively frothing with rage, with some of the proposals we’ve made and it’s increasingly evident.”
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