CONSTITUENCY REACTION:MORE THAN 14,000 constituents in North Tipperary gave Michael Lowry their first-preference vote in the recent general election and, according to some on either side of the political divide, little would change should another election be called tomorrow.
While supporters and opponents alike were last night digesting the findings of the Moriarty tribunal’s report, few predicted its contents would seriously damage the Independent TD at local level.
His son Michael Lowry, who sits on North Tipperary County Council, said the Lowry organisation’s Thurles office had been “inundated with messages of goodwill” throughout yesterday.
“From the interaction I’d have had with the public today, people are very supportive of the father,” Mr Lowry jnr said. “A lot of what they heard today, they heard over the last 14 years. As an organisation, we’ve been very open and transparent with the public, we never tried to hide what was going on in the tribunal or the likely outcome,” he added.
The publication of the Moriarty report came “like a bolt out of the blue”, he said. “I only found out about it listening to the radio at work.”
The Lowry political camp has four county councillors, two members of Thurles Town Council, one member of Templemore Town Council and a TD who has been Independent since his departure from Fine Gael after the allegations that led to the establishment of the Moriarty tribunal.
Local Fine Gael councillor Pauline Coonan said last night she had not been listening to coverage of the report’s findings. “I’m not interested in it and never was. We do our own thing and everybody else does their own thing.”
Another of Mr Lowry’s councillor base, North Tipperary deputy mayor John “Rocky” McGrath, said he did not want to comment.
“It’s been a busy day and I’m not prepared to make any statement at all at the moment.”
Fianna Fáil councillor John Hogan said local people were “shocked” by the tribunal’s findings. “It will take them time to listen to his version of it and study the tribunal’s version,” he said.
Mr Hogan said the so-called Lowry deal with former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, to support the last government, “was the secret to a lot of his success”.
Asked if Mr Lowry’s support would have shrunk had the report been published in the run-up to the election, councillor John Kennedy of the Labour Party said in his view it would not. “I think he would be as strong again.”