Lowry demands more time to defend himself in Dáil

Michael Lowry has today demanded more Dáil time to make his case in the debate on the Moriarty Tribunal report.

He is demanding 45-50 minutes to make a statement. At present, the Government is only willing to give him 30 minutes, after an initial offer of 20 minutes.

"I'm a member of this House, and 20 minutes wouldn't be satisfactory in terms of the length of time that I need to make a reasoned and considered contribution," he said.

"They came back to me and then offered me 30 minutes today, and as far as I'm concerned I will need a minimum of 45 to 50 minutes.

"I don't see why I, as the one who is being effectively accused, I don't see why I as a member of this House should be restricted or limited to that extent."

He added: "I'm not looking for hours, I'm talking here about minutes."

The Tipperary Independent TD also wants to make himself available to answer questions at the end of the debate.

He said that he needs the time to put forward the case of the 17 civil servants whose evidence was ignored by the Tribunal.

Earlier, Gardaí announced they have not been able to find any evidence of phone tapping at the Tribunal.

Mr Lowry said that he was not surprised at that.

"I have to say that to put this kind of a story into the public domain and the coincidence of the timing to put it into the public domain, it smacked to me of ‘put it into the public domain, let the people thinnk what they like out there’," he said.