FG makes no move against Lowry after he admits tax irregularities

MR Michael Lowry is staring into a political and financial abyss following his startling admission of tax irregularities to a hushed Dail yesterday.

Condemned by his own words, he acknowledged that he had made an incomplete declaration of his tax affairs to the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, on his appointment as a Minister two years ago.

He also admitted that, on assuming office, he left "unfinished commercial business behind me" and raised the possibility that he may have concluded the terms of a new agreement between his company and Dunnes Stores while he was a serving- Minister this year.

His personal statement, \which took an unprecedented 45 minutes to deliver, revealed a younger, less brash, Mr Lowry who was, in essence, the creature of Mr Ben Dunne. Their negotiating positions, which were "far from equal", had been a persistent difficulty in this matter generally, he said.

Mr Lowry's extraordinary explanation of the circumstances surrounding the payments of £208,000 by Dunnes Stores to build an extension to his Tipperary home in 1993 brought a muted response from politicians in all parties last night.

The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, who had earlier told his parliamentary party that "there will be no hiding place for him", said that failure to disclose transactions to the Revenue Commissioners in time for tax assessment purposes was "wrong." The fact that exact tax liabilities were not yet determinable did not relieve taxpayers of their responsibility to declare income and pay tax on a preliminary basis.

There were clear signs last night that no move would be made to remove Mr Lowry from the Fine Gael parliamentary party. Sources indicated, however, that he is expected to lose his position as a trustee of the party.

In his Dail statement, Mr Lowry revealed that Dunnes Stores, through its solicitors, stated as recently as Wednesday afternoon that payments to Faxhill Homes Ltd in respect of alterations to his house amounted to an extraordinary £395,188. "I totally reject this figure", he said.

Having stated on the day of his resignation that "credit facilities" were made available by Dunnes Stores, to be repaid from after-tax income, Mr Lowry admitted yesterday that the money spent on his house was "not a loan". It was not a gift. It was income.

No declarations in respect of these matters had yet been made by him to the Revenue Commissioners, "because the value of what I earned under the terms of the agreement with Dunnes Stores has yet to be determined".

He conceded that he would have to review the Residential Property Tax returns "in the light of the true value of the work to my house which remains to be established". The VAT aspects of these matters would also be addressed, he added.

On becoming a minister, he said, he had made a declaration to the Taoiseach to the effect that he had availed of the tax amnesty and in so far as he was aware, all his tax affairs were up to date and paid. Accepting that some of his tax obligations were still outstanding, he apologised to the Taoiseach, the Dail and to the public for failing in that regard.

The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Ahern, said last night that Mr Lowry's statement confirmed some of peoples' worst fears about the original reports. It was for the Taoiseach to repair, if he could, the damage done to the integrity of the Government by a member of his party, he added.

A spokesman for Dunnes Stores said last night that the company had nothing to add to the controversy.

Neither Mr Ben Dunne nor Ms Margaret Heffernan could be reached last night to comment.