Independent TD Michael Lowry told the Dáil the Moriarty tribunal is “grievously” wrong in its findings and said he has been the subject of a “witch-hunt” and “scapegoating”.
Addressing the House tonight during a two-day debate into the inquiry’s report Mr Lowry said it is “quite extraordinary” Mr Justice Moriarty could give such a “misleading impression” to the Irish public.
Mr Lowry denied any wrongdoing in relation to the awarding of the second mobile phone licence nor he said did he receive “payments or benefits” from Denis O’Brien in relation to this licence before adding he is backed up by every witness that gave evidence to the tribunal.
Referring to media reports that the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) is investigating him on foot of the tribunal’s findings Mr Lowry said: “You can in Cab, you can send in the army, you can send in who you like to investigate my affairs after all of these investigations and there’ll be no £900,000 because it was never there and it is not there.”
Mr Lowry said he has been subject of “14 years of intrusion, examination, scrutiny, interference, stress and vilification”.
“No trial has ever lasted so long with so little fact or truth to justify its existence…The Moriarty Tribunal has become a monster of extraordinary proportions feeding off itself and costing this country a fortune.”
He said for a public inquiry to go on for so long in a democratic society is “absurd”.
Mr Lowry said the tribunal was “driven by forces and syndicates in this country whose vested interest, ambitions and greed were thwarted by a perfectly legitimate licence application procedure.”
“During the prolonged enquiry rumour and innuendo suddenly became fact; guilt by association became the norm; any association between the parties involved became proof that something sinister was going on,” he added.
He said Mr Justice Moriarty took his terms of reference from the Dáil and then “converted them himself into an open-ended mandate…with an unlimited budget and with zero accountability to this House over the past 14 years”.
Mr Lowry said the ultimate outcome of the tribunal was a report filled with “intemperate language that is professionally inappropriate, has no evidentiary framework or merit and makes claims that wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny in the local pub let alone an esteemed courtroom.”
Mr Lowry was due to give a 59-page address but his speech was cut short after he ran out of time. He has been allocated 20 minutes speaking time tomorrow.