Gilmore calls on Lowry to resign

LABOUR PARTY VIEW:TÁNAISTE AND Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore has said former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry should resign from the Dáil following the publication of the Moriarty tribunal report.

Mr Gilmore said he was mindful of the fact that Mr Lowry had been re-elected by the people of Tipperary North, but his view remained that the deputy should step down.

“It is my view that any public representative, any TD, who is the subject of the kind of criticism that Mr Lowry has been subject to in the Moriarty tribunal, I think, should consider resigning. That’s my view,” he said.

Before attending an event in Dublin Castle yesterday, Mr Gilmore was asked by reporters if he believed Mr Lowry should resign.

“I think he should. I think that a report of this seriousness about any elected person, I think that he should consider resigning as a consequence of that report,” Mr Gilmore said. “But I am of course mindful of the fact that we’ve just had an election and that he’s been re-elected by the people of his constituency.”

Mr Gilmore was also questioned about criticisms in the tribunal report about the handling of a $50,000 donation to Fine Gael in 1995. The report said the payment was made on behalf of Esat Digifone at the instigation of Denis O’Brien.

Mr Gilmore said he welcomed that Fine Gael had acknowledged that the matter could have been handled differently. Such a donation under current law would be illegal, he said. Pressed on whether he thought Fine Gael still had questions to answer about the $50,000, Mr Gilmore replied: “Well there will be questions of course and there’s a Dáil debate next week.”

He said it was important to stress that “the old regime is over” and a new Government was in place, which had committed itself to reforming the relationship between government and business. “As part of that reform we will be banning all corporate donations. We will be introducing legislation to register lobbyists and to ensure that what is described in the Moriarty report is something entirely of the past.”

Mr Gilmore said the contents of the report were very serious, which was why the Government had decided to refer them to the DPP and the Garda Commissioner.

Mr Gilmore also criticised Fianna Fáil for appointing people to State boards shortly before the change of government. Legal advice had been sought to decide whether those appointed could be removed.