Independent Tipperary TD Michael Lowry is reported to have been interviewed by Gardaí from the Criminal Assets Bureau in relation to the Moriarty tribunal. The Journal reports that the interview was held earlier this month and that the Former Government Minister was not arrested and had accepted an invitation from Gardaí to be formally interviewed. The Moriarty Report was published in 2011 following an inquiry launched in 1997 to examine payments to former Taoiseach Charles Haughey and to Michael Lowry. The then Taoiseach Enda Kenny referred the report to An Garda Siochana to determine if any criminal charges should be taken based on the findings. The report found that it was “beyond doubt” that Michael Lowry gave “substantive information” to Denis O’Brien and that this data was “of significant value and assistance to him in securing” a mobile phone licence for Ireland which the government was awarding at the time. The report also identified a series of financial transactions involving Denis O’Brien and Michael Lowry including payments of €500,000 and a loan of €420,000.
Denis O’Brien has rejected the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal while Michael Lowry claims the tribunal’s report was “factually wrong and deliberately misleading”. A Garda file submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2017 did not lead to any charges at the time. The Journal reports that when Deputy Lowry was asked to confirm the latest interview had taken place he neither confirmed nor denied the questioning had taken place.
The late Ben Dunne was one of the people investigated by the Moriarty Tribunal and on his death last year An Garda Siochana confirmed to Tipp Mid West Radio that it’s examination of the Moriarty Report was an “active investigation” some 13 years after it first commenced.
