Cross-party condemnation will not force Lowry out of office

A CROSS-PARTY condemnation of TD Michael Lowry will be tabled in the Dáil this morning although the move will be powerless to kick the politician out of office.

All political parties last night agreed on a motion to censure the former communications minister. But the move will only leave a black mark on Mr Lowry’s political position with the defiant TD insisting he will not be forced from office.

The Government whip agreed the wording of the motion last night with Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin as well as the technical group of Independents.

The wording of the motion to censure Mr Lowry agreed reads that the House “believes that the conduct of deputy Michael Lowry set out in the tribunal report was completely unacceptable for a member of the House and it calls on deputy Lowry to voluntarily resign his membership of Dáil Éireann”.

It is expected that Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett will announce the motion to TDs and all parties are expected to agree to it being passed without a vote.

It takes 10 TDs to call for a vote on a motion in the Dáil.

The move comes after a week in which TDs, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Taoiseach Enda Kenny suggested Mr Lowry should resign.

The damning findings of the Moriarty Tribunal concluded that Mr Lowry as communications minister had been given nearly Stg£900,000 in payments and loans by Denis O’Brien and had influenced the businessman’s winning of the state’s second mobile phone licence in the mid 1990s.

Both men have denied any wrongdoing.

It is thought that the only other time a motion of censure has been successfully brought against a TD in the Dáil was against the late Liam Lawlor after he was jailed by the High Court for failing to co-operate with the planning tribunal.

Mr Lowry said last night during the final part of the debate on the Moriarty Tribunal he understood a motion was being brought against him by colleagues.

He added: “The House is free to pass the motion, but I advise the House that I have no intention of resigning my position as a democratically elected representative. I will not walk away from the overwhelming mandate that was given to me by the constituents of north Tipperary and south Offaly.”