The Dáil has passed a motion calling on Independent TD Michael Lowry to resign his seat in the wake of the findings of the Moriarty tribunal.
The report found that Mr Lowry “secured the winning” of the 1995 mobile phone licence competition for Denis O’Brien’s Esat Digifone when he was minister for communications.
The tribunal also found that Mr O’Brien made two payments to Mr Lowry in 1996 and 1999 totalling approximately £500,000 and supported a loan of STG£420,000 given to Mr Lowry in 1999.
Mr Lowry today repeated his stance that he has no intention of stepping down.
The party whips last night agreed the terms of a motion that was passed without debate in the Dáil this morning. “The Dáil believes the conduct of Michael Lowry set out in the tribunal report was completely unacceptable and calls on Deputy Lowry to resign voluntarily his membership of Dáil Éireann," the motion read.
Before the motion was deemed passed, Mr Lowry said he had not been charged with or convicted of any offence. "I am not a criminal," he said. "This report is seriously flawed and is not grounded in evidence. This report does me and the civil servants involved an extraordinary injustice."
He said he has suffered 14 years of abuse, vilification and humiliation as a result of the investigations of the Moriarty tribunal.
Mr Lowry called on Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore to ensure any Garda investigations into the inquiry's findings be completed quickly.
"How long more am I expected to withstand this kind of scrutiny? How long more am I expected to stand up without any support or assistance to defend myself, legally, or any other way?" he asked. "I'm asking you to ensure, and the Minister for Justice to ensure, that whatever Garda inquiry is to take place, that it be done expeditiously and that it be brought to an end."
Mr Lowry reiterated his intention to remain in his seat and continue to serve his constituents in North Tipperary. He accused Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin of trying to portray a "clean-cut Steve Silvermint image" since he had been appointed Fianna Fáil leader. "It won't be long for the wraps to come off," he said.
Mr Lowry then turned on Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald, saying her "sense of natural justice makes me want to retch". He said he would not be lectured to by a member of any party that had been associated with “atrocities, mutilations and murder on civilians and unarmed gardaí”.
Speaking before the motion was passed, Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett said it did not imply criminal guilt on the part of a TD. Such a decision was a matter for the courts, he said.
As the two-day debate on the Moriarty report into the awarding of the State’s second mobile phone licence came to an end yesterday evening, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the House that the Dáil did not have the power for force Mr Lowry to resign his seat. “This House doesn’t have the constitutional authority to deny anybody access here if they are elected by an electorate from whatever part of the country,” he said.
Mr Martin accepted that the Dáil could not compel a resignation but said it could express its belief that there should be one. “It’s about the Dáil making a statement in as concrete and determined a fashion it can about the behaviour of Deputy Lowry as found by the Moriarty tribunal.”
He challenged Mr Kenny to say whether he accepted the inquiry’s conclusions, but the Taoiseach took a swipe at Mr Martin.
“You sat on these benches, you travelled the world on behalf of the people of this country, simply because Deputy Lowry and others had secret deals with you that you refused to publish," Mr Kenny said.
Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan was the subject of a number of attacks from Fianna Fáil for telling the tribunal he had no recollection of meeting Denis O’Brien and estate agent Mark FitzGerald in a Dublin restaurant in October 1995. The Moriarty tribunal accepted that the meeting had taken place.
“I would ask the members on all sides, and indeed the public,” Mr Hogan said, “to accept my bona fides in relation to this matter and to acknowledge it is very far-fetched indeed that an alleged meeting in a coffee shop by a backbench deputy could result in influencing the outcome of a mobile telephone competition.”