THE former Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Michael Lowry, is expected to seek and win a nomination to contest the next general election in his Tipperary North constituency in the aftermath of his controversial resignation last month.
In spite of deep annoyance with Mr Lowry among the senior echelons of Fine Gael, he is understood to have the critical bulk of his party's constituency organisation behind him, and senior sources last night predicted that he would secure the nomination at a convention later this year.
Fine Gael's organiser and director of elections in Tipperary North, Mr Ailbe Allen, said yesterday that there was "no challenge building up against him" in the run up to the convention.
"He would easily win a nomination - there is no doubt about it. Support is coming in from every angle within the constituency. As of now, Michael is a clear winner in terms of a nomination, and confidence in him is a foregone conclusion", Mr Allen said.
Senior sources in Fine Gael last night said that nothing would stop Mr Lowry from proceeding to contest the three seat constituency, if he had a "strong local mandate from his constituency organisation. It is widely expected that he will hold on to his Dail seat.
A meeting planned for last night in Thurles to arrange a series of Fine Gael branch AGMs in the constituency was cancelled on Friday following representation from the party leadership in Dublin. Although a poor weather forecast was blamed for the cancellation, it is understood that senior Fine Gael figures felt that the meeting would attract excessive media interest and intensify the controversy surrounding Mr Lowry.
Sources said that proper notice had not been given and they feared that expressions of confidence in Mr Lowry which might be voiced at the meeting would be "premature" in advance of the inquiry into the Ben Dunne funding affair by a sub committee of the Dail Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
Judge Gerard Buchanan, who has been charged with examining the Price Waterhouse list of those who received funding from Mr Dunne, has been writing to many of the named people. No timescale has been put on this process or on when the judge should pass a list of relevant names to the CPP subcommittee.
Meanwhile, the long awaited Government proposals to give extra powers to Oireachtas committees have been described as "deeply flawed" by the Progressive Democrats' spokesman on finance, Mr Michael McDowell. His party and Fianna Fail are in dispute with the Government over the implications of amendments to the Compellability of Witnesses Bill, which are due to be discussed tomorrow by a sub committee of the Dail Committee on Finance and General Affairs.
It was envisaged that the Bill would allow Oireachtas committees to compel witnesses to give evidence and to produce relevant documents in their possession. But, according to Mr McDowell, the Government's proposals would effectively muzzle the committees and "reduce them to the status of intellectual slaves of the executive arm of the State".