INDEPENDENT TD Michael Lowry should resign his Dáil seat in light of the findings of the Moriarty tribunal, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said yesterday.
Speaking in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting of EU leaders, Mr Kenny said it was essential that Mr Lowry answer in the Dáil next week to the findings of the tribunal, published on Tuesday.
Asked by reporters if the Tipperary North TD should resign his Dáil seat, Mr Kenny said: “In an ideal world he should resign but we don’t live in an ideal world.”
Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said yesterday he had appointed a team of senior detectives from the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) and Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation to examine the tribunal report.
The tribunal, chaired by Mr Justice Michael Moriarty, concluded that Mr Lowry, then minister fir communications, “secured the winning” of the 1995 mobile phone licence competition for Denis O’Brien’s Esat Digifone.
It found Mr O’Brien made two payments to Mr Lowry in 1996 and 1999 totalling approximately Ir£500,000 and supported a Ir£420,000 loan given to Mr Lowry in 1999.
Both men have disputed the findings and have denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Callinan, speaking in Belfast after a North-South policing and ministerial security summit, said the review he had ordered was “not an investigation per se”.
“We’re looking at examining the report with a view to establishing whether or not there are any criminal offences disclosed and obviously we will await that report.
“But as of now, it would be premature to indicate that an investigation is to take place in the absence of knowing whether there are criminal offences disclosed.”
The Garda team is headed by Det Chief Supt Eugene Corcoran, the head of the Cab, and will liaise with the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which Mr Kenny has already asked to examine the report.
Mr Kenny told reporters he was conscious of the seriousness of the findings made by the tribunal and that was why he had referred the report to the DPP, the Garda and the Revenue Commissioners.
He said the tribunal report highlighted the need to give the Oireachtas the power to institute proper inquiries.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter described the tribunal document as “a very serious report”. However, he declined to comment on the prospect of criminal investigations by the Garda into the report’s findings.
He believed that given his position as Minister for Justice, such speculation may “prejudice where matters go from here”. Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan declined to call on Mr Lowry to resign from the Dáil, saying the party had “cut him loose” in 1997.