Whatever Independent TD and businessman Michael Lowry has done it “pales into insignificance” compared to the actions of senior members of the republican movement, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
During exchanges in the Dáil on Wednesday, he rejected claims by Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty that Mr Lowry “is one of yours”.
Then, in an indirect reference to the funeral on Tuesday of former senior IRA member Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane, Mr Martin said Mr Lowry’s record “pales into insignificance in terms of what members of your movement did”.
The former IRA man was jailed for a sectarian gun and bomb attack that killed five people in Belfast in 1975, and was linked to the kidnapping in 1984 of Don Tidey which resulted in the murders of a Garda recruit and a member of the Defence Forces involved in the businessman’s rescue.
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The Taoiseach was speaking after Mr Doherty reiterated charges he made last month about Mr Lowry, who subsequently said he wanted to make a personal statement to the Dáil.
Mr Doherty said that for all Mr Lowry’s “huffing and puffing” about making a personal statement “we haven’t heard a peep from him since”.
But Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy said she wanted to clarify that “Deputy Lowry has written to me. He has asked to make a statement, and I have requested further information, just so you know that that’s where it’s at. I haven’t received that information yet”.
In January, Mr Doherty told the Dáil he had information not given to the Moriarty tribunal about a Doncaster Rovers deal involving Mr Lowry. The tribunal investigated the €5 million purchase in 1998 of the Doncaster Rovers stadium in England as part of its inquiries into financial links between Mr Lowry and businessman Denis O’Brien.
Raising the issue again, the Sinn Féin TD asked the Taoiseach if he had questioned Mr Lowry whether “he went to a rural farm in August 2002, which was claimed by one of those present, to burn original documents pertaining to the deals that were at the heart of the Moriarty tribunal investigations.
“Has he explained to you how his accountant made two separate payments that originated in Gibraltar to the person who was arranging the Doncaster deal payments that were never disclosed to the tribunal.
“Taoiseach, I’m going to continue to answer these questions and others until we have answers. He is one of yours. He’s a Government-supporting TD, have you asked him any of these questions in the last four weeks?”
But Mr Martin replied, to laughter from the Opposition benches, that Mr Lowry is “an Independent, he’s not one of ours”.
Referring to McFarlane, he told Mr Doherty “you need to reflect”.
The Taoiseach said “whilst the funeral happened this week and I have great time for the victims and the wife and those who have lost a loved one; the truth is, though, that your party called somebody a patriot who murdered five innocent people and injured 16 more, and was involved in the Derrada Woods, in the murder of a trainee Garda and member of the Defence Forces”.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald had described McFarlane as a “great patriot who lived his life for the freedom and unity of Ireland”.
