YOU HAVE TO just wonder at the amazing ability of Michael Lowry not just to keep going but also to prosper.

Not only did he not give up after having to resign from government in disgrace in 1996 because of his dodgy dealings with Ben Dunne and then be investigated by tribunals and company law officers and the Revenue, he continued to pursue his political career and to be returned repeatedly to the national legislature.

He founded his own mini-party – Team Lowry – which continues to be a force in Tipperary, and continued to run his refrigeration business.

Now it transpires that even in the midst of all his political and financial trauma, he still found time to engage in some horse-breeding.

In and around 2007, about the same time he was agreeing a €1.4 million settlement with the Revenue for himself and his business, he was also buying a mare – Wedding Morn – at a cost which has yet to be disclosed (this is not to suggest that the Revenue doesn’t know where the money came from).

The horse has been housed ever since in Coolmore Stud, and has produced four offspring that have been sold for approximately €410,000.

The offspring were sired by Coolmore’s Danehill Dancer, which experts in this area say would have cost approximately €100,000 a service. (The price these days has dropped to €60,000).

Given the cost of keeping his nag in Coolmore and the associated vet fees and other costs, it has all the looks of a very expensive hobby for the independent TD.

However, now that one of the offspring, Probably, has won a juvenile race in the Curragh, the value of future offspring of the TD’s mare is expected to shoot up, finally, perhaps, producing a profit for the State’s most famous tribunal witness and one of its least well-known horse-breeders.

How blessed we are with our public representatives.