1987 FEBRUARY:Michael Lowry (32) elected to the Dáil for the first time to represent Tipperary North.
1990 OCTOBER:Lowry, who supplies refrigeration services to Dunnes Stores, lodges £25,000 stg from Dunnes to an account with the Bank of Ireland in the Isle of Man. It is one of a series of payments from Dunnes received in 1990-1993 that he does not declare to the Revenue.
1991 Denis O’Brien (36) establishes Esat Telecom, to compete in the telephone landline business.
SEPTEMBER 3rd:Lowry lodges £100,000 stg to an account with AIB in the Channel Islands. Some of the money comes from Dunnes.
1992Dunnes Stores spends £395,107 on refurbishment work on Lowry's Tipperary home and describes the expenditure in its books as being on its outlet in the Ilac Centre in Dublin.
1993Lowry, chairman of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, avails of the tax amnesty, but does not make a full disclosure.
1994 DECEMBER:
Lowry heads the negotiations for Fine Gael that lead to the formation of the Rainbow coalition and is appointed minister for transport, energy and communications in the new government.
1995 AUGUST 4th:
Six bids are submitted for the right to hold exclusive negotiations with the government for the State's second mobile phone licence in a process being run by Lowry's department. Businessman Denis O'Brien is founder and 50 per cent shareholder in one of the bidders, Esat Digifone.
SEPTEMBER 29th:Dermot Desmond becomes a shareholder in Esat Digifone.
OCTOBER 25th:Lowry announces that Esat Digifone has won the competition.
DECEMBER:O'Brien asks Norwegian shareholder in Esat, Telenor, to facilitate a $50,000 donation to Fine Gael. Money is forwarded to an account in Jersey of Fine Gael supporter and businessman, the late David Austin.
1996 MAY 16th:Licence is awarded to Esat Digifone.
JULY: O'Brien's accountant Aidan Phelan (left) moves £400,000 for O'Brien to a temporary account in the Isle of Man opened in Phelan's name. From there he transfers £100,000 and £50,000 to an account opened in Jersey by the late David Austin to receive the funds.
JULY: Lowry buys a house on Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, for £200,000, securing 100 per cent finance from Michael Fingleton of Irish Nationwide.
EARLY OCTOBER:Austin sends £147,000 from the Jersey account to an account opened by Lowry to receive the funds with the Irish Nationwide in the Isle of Man.
OCTOBER: O'Brien says to Barry Maloney of Esat Digifone that he has given money to Lowry.
NOVEMBER 31st:Lowry announces his resignation from cabinet after the disclosure that Dunnes Stores had paid for work on his home which had not been declared to the Revenue.
DECEMBER 19th:Lowry makes a personal statement to the Dáil concerning the Dunnes Stores payments, in which he says: "If someone were trying to hide income, would he or she not be more likely to put it in an offshore account?"
1997 FEBRUARY 7th:McCracken (Dunnes payments) tribunal is established. Lowry sends the money in the Nationwide Isle of Man account back to Austin.
MARCH: Esat Digifone launches its mobile phone network.
SEPTEMBER 26th:Moriarty tribunal is established.
OCTOBER: Suggestion that O'Brien may have paid money to Lowry is investigated by the boards of Esat Telecom and Esat Digifone prior to a planned offering of shares in New York. Inquiry is not told about the transfer of O'Brien money to the Isle of Man in July 1996.
1998 JULY:Lowry agrees to buy a property in Mansfield, England, that has been identified by Omagh-based property scout Kevin Phelan (no relation of Aidan Phelan).
DECEMBER:Lowry pays a 10 per cent deposit (stg£25,000) on the Mansfield property, using English solicitor Christopher Vaughan (left).
1999 APRIL:Aidan Phelan forwards stg£300,000 to Vaughan's client account, with the money coming from a London bank account belonging to O'Brien. The money is used to close the Mansfield deal.
The property is registered in Lowry's name.
APRIL/MAY:Property in Cheadle brought to Lowry's attention by Kevin Phelan.
SEPTEMBER:Deposit of stg£44,500 put on the Cheadle property by Lowry, using the money remaining in the Vaughan client account that originated from O'Brien's London account.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER:Cheadle deal closed using a stg£420,000 loan from GE Capital Woodchester with Aidan Phelan.
2000 JANUARY:Esat Telecom, which holds O'Brien's stake in Digifone, is sold to British Telecom for £1.9 billion, netting O'Brien a reported £231 million. A move to Portugal means he avoids paying capital gains tax.
2001 MARCH 4th:A report in the Sunday Tribune reveals the $50,000 donation to Fine Gael in December 1995.
The report comes as O'Brien is locked in a battle with Sir Anthony O'Reilly to gain control of Eircom's landline business.
MAY 22nd:Moriarty tribunal, which had been nearing the end of its hearings, reveals it is to investigate the $50,000 donation and also that it has learned of the Austin payment to Lowry, and the Cheadle and Mansfield transactions.
JULY:Mr Justice Michael Moriarty, having heard evidence concerning the payments involving Austin and the English property transactions, says the tribunal will be inquiring into the Esat Digifone licence.
2006 APRIL 4th:
The tribunal hears that Lowry and his company, Garuda, have paid €1.4 million to the Revenue in unpaid tax, interest and penalties.
2007 APRIL 22nd:Lowry says he has been told he will not be facing criminal charges arising from his tax evasion.
2008 NOVEMBER:Tribunal issues its confidential preliminary findings but later changes them when they are contested.
2011 YESTERDAY:
Mr Justice Moriarty publishes his report.