TD’s hidden payment - Answer the questions Mr Lowry

Independent Dáil TD Michael Lowry has asserted — once again — that he is the victim of an “organised, concerted, and vicious media campaign” because of questions about a previously unknown payment of stg£248,264 to a land agent.

Like so many others before him in similarly difficult positions he hopes that by depicting himself as a victim he will deflect public attention from another episode in his shady business dealings. He hopes that by shooting the messenger that the message will be ignored and eventually forgotten.

It seems he would prefer if all reportage dealing with his affairs was as incomplete and sanitised as his description of himself on michaellowry.ie.

Entitled “About Michael” the eulogy dedicates the first three paragraphs to his GAA career. He then describes his first fall from grace in terms so economical with the actuality of the events that forced him to quit John Bruton’s cabinet in Nov 1996 that the description cannot be described as anything other than misleading. The defining event of his political career at that time — tax dodging — is not mentioned at all. As sins of omission go, especially as he eventually made settlements of €1.2m for one of his businesses and €200,000 to settle a personal tax bill, it seems considerably more than vain self-delusion.

Against that kind of a background it is not surprising that Mr Lowry has refused to clarify issues surrounding a recently exposed but previously undisclosed payment of stg£248,264 to a land agent who brokered deals investigated by the Moriarty Tribunal. The existence of the payment was revealed by the Sunday Independent and it brings into question the accuracy of evidence Mr Lowry gave to the Moriarty Tribunal.

Speaking on Tipp FM, the North Tipperary poll topper deflected perfectly legitimate questions about the payment by playing the victim card again. He suggested that the public should examine the motivation behind this campaign, ask who was organising it and why.

This is the kind of robust self-confidence that has helped Mr Lowry top the poll in North Tipperary at the last four general elections but at the end of the day it’s just empty bluster because the question remains as valid as it ever was despite the diversionary tirade. A more appropriate — and pressing — question for public consideration might be why the people of North Tipperary seem so very loyal to a tax dodger whose political and business careers have been tainted with suspicion for nearly two decades.

Mr Lowry has occasionally enjoyed breeding racehorses and though his recent interest is primarily in flat racing he may go to the Cheltenham festival this week to celebrate his 60th birthday, which falls tomorrow. If he does he is unlikely to see even the bravest jockey be as audacious as he has regularly been in trying to deflect attention from his affairs. His bombast has, as his election results persistently show, served him well but anyone who cares for the integrity of our democracy will be concerned that he can so easily shrug off questions that reach to the very heart of power in Ireland and how that power interacts with business.