The interesting thing about the above piece is not that the Irish media is treating Michael Lowry, one of the most corrupt politicians to ever serve in our national parliament, as a person with a legitimate right to defend oneself at the expense of the more important debate, but that Lowry is still an elected rep after the startling career which he has led.
In 1993 Michael Lowry became Chairman of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. He used this occasion to tell his party leader John Bruton that he planned to avail of a new government tax amnesty. This did not deter Bruton from appointing the tax cheat to cabinet. Lowry went ahead with the amnesty but lied to the Revenue, deciding not to reveal the true extent of his hidden income. The following year, he was made Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications in the Rainbow Coalition government. Proof indeed that there is no room for honest people in politics.
In 1996, Lowry misled the Dail by failing to mention a series of large payments which he had received from Dunnes. He stated that if he had been trying to hide money he would have placed it in an offshore account, clearly indicating that he hadn't. In reality, Lowry had four offshore accounts, and Ben Dunne had paid IR£395,000 for an extension to Lowry's home in Tipperary. Lowry was forced to resign. A year later, he was re-elected with an extra 4,000 votes.
In March 2011 the Moriarty Tribunal found that the former Communications Minister Michael Lowry assisted businessman Denis O'Brien's consortium Esat Digiphone in acquiring a mobile phone licence in the mid-90s. For this he was heavily rewarded.
In the last four general elections, Michael Lowry has topped the poll in his native North Tipperary constituency. He has been the most popular candidate there each time despite it been widely accepted that he is a corrupted immoral man.
The interesting thing is that the electorate don't seem to care.
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