Politics

Michael Lowry accountant criticised by Moriarty tribunal gets €371,000 in legal costs

Payment to Denis O’Connor comes 27 years after the inquiry was established

Accountant Denis O'Connor leaving the Moriarty tribunal at Dublin Castle. Photograph: Cyril Byrne

Arthur Beesley
Mon May 13 2024 - 17:39

The Moriarty tribunal has reimbursed some €371,000 in legal costs to an accountant who advised former minister Michael Lowry, despite the tribunal having heavily criticised his actions.

The payment to Denis O’Connor comes 27 years after the inquiry was established.

The State Claims Agency made the payment to Mr O’Connor on March 5th, the Department of the Taoiseach said in response to questions.

On the same day, the agency paid more than €2.49 million to Mr Lowry, in line with his January statement about the resolution of a long dispute over costs with the tribunal.

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Mr Lowry had already received €377,244.14 from the tribunal in March 2021, which he said was related to his successful Court of Appeal action against its decision to award him only one-third of his legal costs for participating in the inquiry.

The addition of Mr Lowry’s recent €2,498,325.20 payment to €6,150 paid in 2023 and the 2021 payment shows that he has received more than €2.88 million from the tribunal for legal fees. He declined to comment on the money.

Although the tribunal made its final report in 2011, it is still not closed. “Arrangements continue for the full and final winddown of the tribunal,” the department said.

[ Michael Lowry says costs dispute with Moriarty tribunal settled more than decade after final report ]

It said it had “no control over third-party legal costs incurred by the tribunal” so it was “not possible to predict the timing of settlements or the level of such costs at any particular time”.

Mr O’Connor did not reply to requests for comment on his claim for “plaintiff legal costs”.

The payment to Mr O’Connor came despite stark tribunal criticism of his conduct. He was a key figure in its long investigation into the 1995 award of the State’s second mobile phone licence to Denis O’Brien’s company Esat Digifone, when Mr Lowry was a Fine Gael minister.

The licence, one of the most lucrative ever awarded by the State, was at the centre of mammoth inquiries that carried on for years before Mr Justice Michael Moriarty issued damning findings in 2011.

Mr O’Brien has always rejected outright the judge’s conclusion that Mr O’Brien gave money to Mr Lowry, who “secured the winning” of the licence for him. Mr Lowry, now an Independent TD, also dismissed the findings.

The judge found Mr O’Connor was involved in a “choreographed falsehood” that was “negotiated and orchestrated by Mr O’Connor and Mr Lowry, with the objective of misleading the tribunal” about part of its work.

Mr O’Connor was also one of seven witnesses the judge accused of engaging in “persistent and active concealment” which he said was “calculated to obscure from the tribunal evidence indicating monetary connections between Mr Michael Lowry and Mr Denis O’Brien”.

An Garda Síochána sent a file in 2017 to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after investigating the alleged obstruction of the tribunal. The DPP “directed no prosecution”.

Some 13 years after the final report, the judge’s other conclusions remain under Garda investigation. “This investigation remains ongoing at this time. No further information is currently available,” the Garda said in response to questions.

The Department of the Taoiseach has administrative responsibility for the tribunal. Settlements are processed and paid by the State Claims Agency, with reimbursement then sought from the department.

Arthur Beesley

Arthur Beesley

Arthur Beesley is Current Affairs Editor of The Irish Times

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