‘Extremely tiring and difficult,’ Lowry relieved to put Moriarty Tribunal saga behind him

Tipperary North TD Michael Lowry has issued a statement after the Director of Public Prosecutions decided that there "will be no charges brought against him arising from the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal".

In a statement on Tuesday evening last week, Deputy Lowry said: "I welcome the formal decision of the DPP that there will be no charges brought against me arising from the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal.

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"The Tribunal report, which was issued back in 2011, was always flawed, not being based on hard facts or admissible evidence, but on conjecture, manipulation and speculation.

"Its findings have allowed me to be subjected to repeated insults, smears and false allegations, with no legal remedy available to me.

"Even though its findings are legally sterile, as the Supreme Court have pronounced, it has deprived me of any ability to defend myself from repeated character assassination and attacks on my reputation.

"The Tribunal took 14 years from the start to its final report. The full report was referred to An Garda Siochana for investigation. That investigation took 13 years. The time and complexity of such an investigation is unique.

"I fully cooperated with the Gardai and voluntarily met them and answered all questions. After the Gardai finished their extensive investigation, a file was sent to the DPP in late 2024.

"Now 15 months later, the DPP, the State’s Independent Prosecutor, having fully and carefully reviewed the file, has issued a direction that there will be no prosecution of me.

"Despite the unfair and unfounded opinions of the Moriarty Report, there are no charges being brought against me arising from the award of the licence; no charge of corruption, or misfeasance in public office; no charges of personal gain or bribery on my part.

"I want to thank my family and friends for their resolute, encouragement and kindness throughout many difficult years.

"I will be forever grateful to the people of Tipperary and North Kilkenny for the unwavering faith and trust they placed in me."

Speaking to the Tipperary Star following the announcement, Deputy Lowry described the great sense of relief he feels to be able to put this behind him.

“I’m absolutely delighted that it has come to a conclusion. I think the vast majority of the public didn't realise that this long-running saga was still going on. I think most people had the impression that this was over and finished with. It started 30 years ago, and it has been consistent and persistent, I suppose you could call it, trawling through every aspect of my life, so that in itself, and the invasion of the privacy, you know, has been difficult to deal with.

“But I think the most important aspect of it was the Moriarty report. We were all completely, I suppose, shocked with Moriarty’s findings, on the basis that I know it inside out, and I knew that there was no substance to that report. It was never based on fact. It was based on a theory that they prosecuted the whole way through the Tribunal and at the end of the day, it wasn't possible for me to go to the courts and to look for a judgment on his ruling. Because when I got legal advice, I was told by senior counsel, by three senior counsels, in fact, I asked the opinion of and they told me that the Tribunal report was only an opinion of the chairman, and that they didn't have any basis in law, so therefore there was no point to go over the course, because the law wouldn't be able to overturn it.

“So that's the reason we never challenged it, because it was a futile exercise. So the real test of the Moriarty report has been that 14 years ago, it was sent. The report was sent to the gardaí, to the Criminal Assets Bureau, to the Company Law Office. It was sent to every agency in the state, and has been investigated both here in Ireland and in England, and further afield, it has been investigated. The gardaí did a thorough investigation that took them 14 years to do it. They went through the minutiae of it, and I volunteered to meet with them. I gave them all the information I had, I answered all the questions they had, and they then prepared their report and sent it to the Director of Public Prosecution. The Director of Public Prosecution is the independent prosecutor for the state, and they gave 15 months looking at the evidence that the gardaí had compiled, and they came to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong, that there was no evidence to show that I did anything wrong with the license, the awarding of the license. Secondly, that there was no evidence to substantiate a claim that there was corruption, and thirdly, there was no evidence to sustain any suggestion that I was guilty of some malpractice in politics.

“So for me, that was, you know, that is huge, it brings to an end to speculation, innuendo and false allegations. So you know, at the end of it, I'm happy. I was always content within my own mind that nothing would come of this. The only one that knew that I had done nothing wrong with the license was myself. I knew in my heart and my head that I didn't do anything wrong. And when it comes to the law, you have to substantiate an allegation with hard facts, and the DPP came to the conclusion that there wasn't enough evidence to sustain any charge against me.

Deputy Lowry condemned the use of Tribunals in the Irish judicial system, stating that they come with many flaws, with this particular example taking too long to reach a conclusion, while spending what he feels is an extortionate amount of public funds.

“So it totally undermines what Moriarty has written, and I think it really calls into question the abuse of public funds, to spend €80 million, they made multi millionaires out of the Senior Counsel. They dragged it and dragged it and went on for years and years. And to run up a bill of €80 million and have nothing to show for it, it just has to be called into question, I think Tribunals themselves, and the format of Tribunals are bringing the legal profession into disrepute. You know, there should be only one legal system. Tribunals are a quasi-judicial system, and the same rules of introduction of evidence, the same rules that apply in a normal court case don't apply. But I think in doing that and having this quasi half-in-half-out system where the room is full of lawyers and at the same time the principles of law don't apply, I think that's something that I don't think we'll ever see in Ireland again. I think this is the death knell of Tribunals.

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“I've gone through numerous inquiries, and I never had any quarrel. I never had any difficulty with either Buchanan, with the company law officer, I had no difficulty with the McCracken Tribunal, for instance, the McCracken Tribunal was efficient and fair, and you know, it was expeditious. But the Moriarty Tribunal, I certainly have serious issues with the Moriarty Tribunal, I have issues with its management. I have issues with the way and the manner in which they conducted evidence, and I have an issue in relation to how they could produce a report and findings that were unsubstantiated by the facts. And I have issues with why the Moriarty Tribunal consistently ignored the evidence that was given.

“For instance, in relation to the license, 18 senior civil servants gave evidence. Every one of them gave evidence to the fact that there was no interference by me at any stage in the process, and also the outside, independent consultant, Michael Anderson, he gave evidence to the Tribunal, which they also ignored, and he said quite clearly in his evidence under oath that he never met me, he never spoke to me, that I had nothing to do in relation to the license itself, that it was carried out by the committee appointed by the government. So all of that was ignored in the Tribunal, and that's why I have a serious issue with Moriarty and his findings. And, you know, I also have an issue with the Tribunal in that they allowed falsified documentation, they relied on falsified documentation without the appearance of a witness. So we had no opportunity to examine that witness on the false documentation that was put before the Tribunal and made public.”

Deputy Lowry reiterated that his outlook on the matter has always been to prioritise the needs of his constituents in North Tipperary, stating that he gained a great deal of confidence from his successive re-elections at the top of the polls in each election following the allegations and the Moriarty Tribunal.

“We have a lot to review over the next number of months, but I'm just happy at the moment that it has concluded I was always very conscious of looking after my constituency and looking after the needs of the constituency who had placed their confidence in me. It was extremely tiring and difficult, because I had to work exceptionally long hours to go to deal with the Tribunal at one hand and not get preoccupied and not allowed to define my life.

“I concentrated also and focused on the politics, and I defied all, I suppose, national media, by being re-elected at the head of the poll on successive elections. I think that gave me a wonderful morale boost, and it proved conclusively that the people of Tipperary and North Kilkenny were behind me and supported me despite all the negativity surrounding the Tribunal.

“And you know, I've always found that people are fair minded, they're open, they can read between the lines. They come to their own conclusions, and thankfully, they believed in me. And that was absolutely, it was totally central to my whole attitude, and it gave me tremendous courage, and it gave me tremendous incentive to keep going.”