{"id":339576,"date":"2026-03-10T23:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/339576\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T23:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:50:07","slug":"no-criminal-case-against-michael-lowry-over-moriarty-tribunal-findings-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/339576\/","title":{"rendered":"No criminal case against Michael Lowry over Moriarty tribunal findings \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Director of Public Prosecutions<\/a> (DPP) will not be proceeding with a criminal case against Independent TD Michael Lowry<\/a> following a long-running investigation by An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na<\/a> and the Criminal Assets Bureau<\/a> (Cab) into the findings of the Moriarty tribunal.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed confirmed on Tuesday that the office of the DPP had directed no prosecution be taken in respect of the matter. Lowry\u2019s solicitor was informed on Tuesday afternoon. <\/p>\n

The Irish Times revealed 12 months ago the Garda investigation into the findings of the Tribunal had been concluded with the file sent in 2024. <\/p>\n

The DPP has now considered the file and has directed no criminal charges. The direction by the DPP\u2019s office means none arise for him or anyone else linked to the Tribunal and its findings.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued on Tuesday evening, the TD welcomed the decision and criticised the tribunal \u2013 which investigated alleged payments made to Lowry and, separately, to the late taoiseach Charles Haughey<\/a> \u2013 for a \u201cflawed report\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts findings have allowed me to be subjected to repeated insults, smears and false allegations, with no legal remedy available to me. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The tribunal, which investigated the relationship between prominent business people and politics, made adverse findings in 2011 against a number of prominent politicians including Lowry. <\/p>\n

The tribunal report concluded that Lowry \u201csecured the winning\u201d of the State\u2019s second mobile phone licence for Denis O\u2019Brien\u2019s company, Esat Digifone and also found that the former Fine Gael minister, was given money by O\u2019Brien, with the payments \u201cdemonstrably referable\u201d to his winning of the licence. Lowry and O\u2019Brien have repeatedly disputed the findings.<\/p>\n

In his detailed statement, Lowry said the tribunal took 14 years to issue its final report. He said the subsequent Garda investigation has taken 13 years, saying the time span and complexity of the investigation was unique. <\/p>\n

Lowry met Cab officers voluntarily in Irishtown Garda station in 2024. A file was subsequently sent to the DPP in late 2024, around the time Lowry and his group of Independents were involved in Government-formation negotiations with Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael.<\/p>\n

A former chair of Fine Gael who served as minister for transport between 1994 and 1996, Lowry has been TD for Tipperary North since 1987, sitting as an Independent since 1997.<\/p>\n

A proposal to give his group of Independents Opposition time to speak in the D\u00e1il last year temporarily derailed the election of Miche\u00e1l Martin as Taoiseach.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite 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,\u201d he said in the statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank my family and friends for their resolute, encouragement and kindness throughout many difficult years. <\/p>\n

\u201cI will be forever grateful to the people of Tipperary and North Kilkenny for the unwavering faith and trust they placed in me,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

A Garda spokesman said: \u201cWe do not comment on named individuals or third party statements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe office of the DPP has directed no prosecution in respect of this matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na will not be commenting further.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will not be proceeding with a criminal case against Independent TD Michael…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45,6231,21454,7517,16186,42,31678,155655,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-339576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-charles-haughey","10":"tag-criminal-assets-bureau","11":"tag-denis-obrien","12":"tag-director-of-public-prosecutions","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-michael-lowry","15":"tag-moriarty-tribunal","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-top-news","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-topnews","20":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}