39 Facts About Michael Lowry

Michael Lowry was born on 13 March 1953 and is an Irish Independent politician who has served as a Teachta Dala since 1987, currently for the Tipperary constituency.

Michael Lowry previously served as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications from 1994 to 1996 and Chairman of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party from 1993 to 1994.

The Moriarty Tribunal concluded "beyond doubt" that Michael Lowry was a tax evader and had assisted businessman Denis O'Brien's Esat Digifone consortium in acquiring a lucrative mobile phone licence in the mid-1990s, during Michael Lowry's time as Communications Minister.

Michael Lowry initiated a defamation lawsuit against an Irish Independent journalist, Sam Smyth, over an article that Smyth had written regarding the Moriarty Tribunal as well as comments that Smyth made on a TV3 show.

The lawsuit was thrown out of several courts and Michael Lowry was ordered to pay Smyth's legal costs.

Michael Lowry was born in County Tipperary and educated at Thurles CBS.

Michael Lowry was elected to North Tipperary County Council in 1979.

Michael Lowry was first elected to Dail Eireann as a Fine Gael TD for Tipperary North at the 1987 general election and in 1993 he became Chairman of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party.

Michael Lowry announced that he would stand as an independent candidate in the 1997 general election.

Michael Lowry topped the poll in his constituency in that election, and did so again in the 2002 and 2007 general elections.

Michael Lowry is backed by a strong local organisation in Tipperary, known informally as "Team Michael Lowry".

Michael Lowry was re-elected to represent Tipperary North at the 2011 general election, heading the poll on the 1st count with 14,010 votes.

Michael Lowry was elected again, for Tipperary, at the 2016 general election.

Michael Lowry voted for Enda Kenny as Taoiseach on 6 May 2016.

Shortly after Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail confirmed the result, Michael Lowry was seen to offer a handshake to Kenny.

Michael Lowry has two roles with Garuda Ltd, a manufacturer of electric domestic appliances; Abbeygreen Consulting, which involves construction work and special trades; and Gdlc Business Consultants Ltd.

Michael Lowry has an unlimited company called Glebeland Farm, which manages his bloodstock and livestock interests.

Michael Lowry had some success with horse racing as a quarter-partner in the MALM partnership, but has in recent times taken to flat-race breeding.

Michael Lowry owned a horse named Wedding Morn, though the price he paid for the horse is not known.

In early 2007 Michael Lowry announced that he had made a full and final settlement of all outstanding payments with the Revenue Commissioners in response to the findings concerning his tax evasion.

In March 2011 the second and final report from the Moriarty Tribunal found that, during his time as Communications Minister, Michael Lowry assisted businessman Denis O'Brien's consortium Esat Digifone in acquiring a lucrative mobile phone licence in the mid-1990s which ultimately made O'Brien one of the richest men in Ireland.

The Tribunal report found that Michael Lowry, displayed "an appreciable interest" in the process and had "irregular interactions with interested parties at its most sensitive stages".

The tribunal found that Michael Lowry sought to procure unwarranted rent increases that over a seven-year period would have benefited businessman Ben Dunne.

Michael Lowry sought to influence the outcome of an arbitration being conducted in 1995 in relation to the rent payable by the then state-owned Telecom Eireann for Marlborough House to a company owned and controlled by Dunne.

Michael Lowry had addressed the Dail saying that if he had been trying to hide a lot of money he would have "put it in an offshore account", implying that no such account existed.

Michael Lowry rejected the Moriarty report, claiming that it was flawed and that the assumptions and conclusions that Justice Moriarty arrived at were totally baseless.

Michael Lowry launched a defamation lawsuit against Irish Independent journalist Sam Smyth in 2010, over an article Smyth had written regarding the Moriarty Tribunal as well as comments Smyth had made on a TV3 show describing Michael Lowry as having been "caught with his hand in the till".

Smyth defended the defamation claim, stating he "did not call Michael Lowry TD a thief, but did believe he was a liar and a tax cheat".

High Court Justice Nicholas Kearns noted that Michael Lowry "did not dispute that he engaged in tax fraud", and ordered Michael Lowry to pay Smyth's legal costs.

Vineacre Ltd was removed from the title in 2003 and Michael Lowry declared his Vineacre interest until the company was dissolved in 2008.

On 6 November 2012, Michael Lowry amended his declaration to the Oireachtas to include the land interest, despite claiming previously that the land was "worthless".

Michael Lowry claimed the complaints were part of an "orchestrated campaign" against him.

In March 2013, Northern Ireland land scout Kevin Phelan revealed that Michael Lowry had made payments to him in 2002, of which only half had been disclosed to the Moriarty Tribunal.

The Sunday Independent released a secret recording of a telephone conversation made by Phelan, in which Michael Lowry asks for nothing to be revealed about the payment to the tribunal.

In November 2015, it was announced that Michael Lowry had launched High Court proceedings against INM in relation to the tapes.

Michael Lowry made a settlement with the Revenue again in 2003.

Michael Lowry passed a note to the Taoiseach in the Dail chamber asking him to consider re-appointing Valerie O'Reilly, who runs her own successful public relations agency, to the board of the National Transport Authority.

Michael Lowry was revealed to have lobbied Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe on the same matter.

Michael Lowry himself confirmed he had spoken to Donohoe in the Seanad chamber's anteroom.