Independent TD Michael Lowry has formally requested to address the Dáil to respond to allegations made by Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty. In a statement to RTÉ’s This Week, Lowry revealed that he had submitted a letter to the Office of the Ceann Comhairle, seeking an early opportunity to make a personal statement on the floor of the Dáil regarding what he described as a “smear” against him.
The allegations were raised by Pearse Doherty, who used Dáil privilege to put a number of claims about Lowry’s dealings with the Moriarty Tribunal on the official record. Doherty asserted that Lowry had received a £1 million loan from businessman Denis O’Brien and played a pivotal role in securing government contracts. He also referred to Lowry as “the star of the Moriarty tribunal” and demanded that the TD “come clean” on his involvement in the Doncaster Football Club deal.
Doherty further alleged that Lowry had 57 meetings regarding the Doncaster deal, including discussions held within the Houses of the Oireachtas and at the club’s boardroom. The Sinn Féin TD claimed that Lowry’s accountant had made payments totaling £57,500 to an individual involved in the project, and that these transactions, made from a Gibraltar-based account, had not been disclosed to the Moriarty Tribunal.
Additionally, Doherty suggested that Lowry had been involved in the creation of “fake documents” and had participated in the burning of original paperwork related to the deals in 2002 to suppress evidence.
In response, Lowry expressed his intention to address these allegations directly in the Dáil. “Within hours of it being brought to my attention, I delivered a letter to the Office of the Ceann Comhairle. I formally requested an early opportunity to make a personal statement on the floor of the Dáil to address this smear,” Lowry said.
Doherty’s remarks in the Dáil also raised questions about the role of Tánaiste Micheál Martin and his discussions with Lowry regarding the Programme for Government. Doherty questioned how Martin could work with Lowry, given the serious nature of the accusations against him.
Lowry has consistently rejected the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal, which concluded that he had benefited from improper payments. He has called the tribunal’s report “factually wrong and deliberately misleading,” with both Lowry and businessman Denis O’Brien insisting that no such payments were ever made.
The GAA’s Moriarty Tribunal, established to investigate allegations of political corruption, continues to be a point of contention, with those implicated rejecting its conclusions.
