Indepedent TD Michael Lowry today defended his right to meet Government Ministers after it emerged he held talks with Minister for the Enivornment Phil Hogan justs days after the publication of the Moriarty tribunal.
Mr Lowry brought a business group to the Custom House for talks in March last year just six days after findings against him were published and amid calls for his resignation. The former minister was found to have received payments of £447,000 from businessman Denis O’Brien, who went on to win the lucrative second mobile phone licence.
The meeting with Mr Hogan went ahead despite huge condemnation of Mr Lowry, including calls for him to resign his North Tipperary seat and a motion of censure in the Dáil.
Minister for Arts Jimmy Deenihan said today he accepted that the meeting was scheduled well in advance of the report publication. “But obviously it would be better for Phil Hogan if that meeting had not happened,” he said.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Deenihan said he could understand how the meeting could happen. He said TDs requested meetings with him all the time and he granted those meetings whenever possible.
Mr Deenihan said the matter would obviously be open for “further discussion” and the man who would have to clarify the matter would be Mr Hogan himself.
Labour's Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton later said she would have preferred if the meeting had not gone ahead. "I have said that I think the Government does have to be conscious of how people against whom adverse findings have been made by tribunals of inquiry, how these people interact with members of the Government," she said.
Mr Hogan said in the Dáil following the publication of the Moriarty tribunal report that he would have "no truck" with those found to have behaved in the manner described by Moriarty.
Mr Lowry brought director of farm waste recycling company Filmco Jack O’Reilly to meet Mr Hogan. The findings of the Moriarty tribunal were not raised at the meeting, the Minister’s office has said. A spokesman confirmed the meeting took place on March 28thm 2011 and insisted that Moriarty was not part of the discussions.
“We can confirm that the minister met Filmco and it was a meeting that Michael Lowry organised and there was a discussion about farm waste plastic recycling,” the spokesman said. “There was no discussion of Moriarty.”
Both Mr Lowry and Mr O’Brien reject the findings of the Moriarty inquiry.
This afternoon, Mr Lowry defended his right to meet Ministers and hit back at Ms Burton. "I would remind her that my rights and entitlements are not granted by her or the Government. They are granted by the people I represent under the Constitution," he said.
Mr Lowry said he has been with a number of delegations for talks with several other Government Ministers over the last year on local and national issues.
Mr Lowry insisted that the meeting with Mr Hogan was aimed at saving 34 jobs at the waste processing plant which were subsequently lost. "It's very simple. This meeting was organised in advance. The meeting did not take an hour. The meeting was constructive and to the point," he said. "As it turns out there was nothing the Minister could do to resolve the problems."
Mr Lowry added: "I want to make it very clear, I make no apologies for conducting my duties as a public representative. I have a democratic right to represent the people of South Tipperary.
"I'm not worried about perception. I'm worried about facts. I had a legitimate right to have a meeting with the Minister for the Environment and I discussed an issue that was the protection of jobs - I'm entitled to do that."
Mr Lowry declined to name the other Ministers he has held talks with in the last year.
Additional reporting: PA