INDEPENDENT TD for Tipperary North Michael Lowry is willing to subject himself to a tough interrogation from TDs during the Dáil debate on the Moriarty tribunal findings.
Mr Lowry said yesterday that the Government had yet to accede to his request for up to 50 minutes of speaking time during the debate, which begins today.
He also said he had asked for time to be allotted near the end of the debate to allow him to answer questions. He said both requests should be allowed given his “exceptional circumstances”.
He said 30 minutes would be insufficient to enable him to give his response to the findings and his comments on an inquiry that lasted 14 years and had dominated his public life during that period.
The former Fine Gael minister for communications has rejected damning conclusions made against him by the tribunal. These include corruption in relation to representations made by him on behalf of businessman Ben Dunne.
The tribunal also decided that Mr Lowry received £900,000 from Esat Digifone founder Denis O’Brien in a number of clandestine payments.
It found that the Tipperary TD had “delivered” the State’s second mobile phone licence for Denis O’Brien. Mr O’Brien and Mr Lowry have disputed the findings.
Mr Lowry said Government Chief Whip Paul Kehoe had offered him 20 minutes on the second day of the debate but this had been unacceptable. Following discussions with Mr Kehoe, that had been increased to 30 minutes which he still found unacceptable.
“I was under investigation for 14 years. I am a member of this House. Twenty minutes would not be the length of time I need to make a reasoned and considered contribution. I would need 45 to 50 minutes. I do not see why I as a member of this House should be restricted in this way. I am not looking for hours, I am looking for minutes,” he said.
“I want tomorrow to have the opportunity to allow every member of the House to put any question they so wish to me and to allow me the opportunity to answer the questions.”
The Government has already indicated that Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte will answer questions put by TDs at the end of the debate. Mr Lowry said he did not believe Mr Rabbitte could make a meaningful contribution.
“He was not involved and may not be familiar [with the report]. I’m the one who was involved . . . I had oversight in the department at that time and I am prepared to subject myself to rigorous questioning.”
Asked if he would boycott the debate if his request was refused, Mr Lowry said he was not going to indulge in “grandstanding”. He understood Dáil procedures and if it were not possible for him to answer questions in the House, he suggested that the report be referred to an Oireachtas committee.
Asked about Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s comments that in an ideal world he should resign, Mr Lowry replied that the people of North Tipperary had returned him to the Dáil on four successive occasions, in the full knowledge of the allegations made against him.
“I’m democratically elected to this House and nobody will decide other than myself when I will leave the House, except the people of North Tipperary. I can say to the political leaders and anybody who calls on me to do otherwise, that Michael Lowry is not going anywhere . . . I will see out my term in the Dáil and the likelihood is that I will contest the general election.”
He added that he did not expect any motion of censure to be tabled against him because “there is nothing to censure me for”.