Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are facing further criticism for engaging in government-formation talks with a Tipperary politician who was heavily criticised in a judge-led inquiry examining payments to politicians.
The two parties have been in discussions to form a government with the Regional Independents group, which is led by Tipperary North TD Michael Lowry. Further meetings are expected to take place on Tuesday to agree on a number of policy areas.
However, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has criticised Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s ongoing engagement with Mr Lowry regarding government formation as she said both parties had “problems with Michael Lowry”.
The 70-year-old was criticised in a tribunal that was established in September 1997 which examined payments to former Irish taoiseach Charles Haughey and Mr Lowry.
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The tribunal’s final report was published in March 2011, and found that Mr Lowry, a former Fine Gael TD, helped businessman Denis O’Brien to secure the State’s second mobile phone licence in 1995. The tribunal also criticised his behaviour as “profoundly corrupt”.
Recently gardaí sent a file relating to its investigations around the findings of the tribunal to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Ms McDonald said the Moriarty tribunal findings made against Mr Lowry were “very clear”.
“I think more to the point Fianna Fail, in particular, but also Fine Gael have, as I understand it, problems with Michael Lowry,” she told reporters in Belfast on Monday. “The Moriarty tribunal was very, very clear. The findings against him were absolutely damning.
“I think the question is more for them, what changed? When did it become okay, or when did it become acceptable for them, that Michael Lowry would not alone be engaged, he is a duly elected member of the Dáil, that needs to be acknowledged, but at what point did Micheál Martin in particular decide that it was actually a good idea to form a government with Michael Lowry.”
Ms McDonald said she planned to lead her party into government after the next general election despite a disappointing general election in the Republic in 2024. She said she was “only getting started” when pressed on whether she had the appetite for another five years in opposition.
The party leader said she had not given up on her ambition to be taoiseach but acknowledged opposition parties on the left needed to work more coherently in the next Dáil term.
“I am an Irish mammy and we should never ever be underestimated to stick the going, especially when the going gets a bit sticky and a bit tough,” Ms McDonald said. “I’m in this for the long haul. Sinn Féin is in this for the long haul. We have a vision.”
She added: “For us in Sinn Féin it is still very much game on. – PA
