TÁNAISTE MICHEÁL MARTIN has said he stands by the statements he made in the Dáil in 2011 on the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal and defended negotiating with Independent TD Michael Lowry in government formation talks. 

During a robust exchange between the media and the Fianna Fáil leader at the party’s special Ard Fheis this evening, the incoming Taoiseach was asked how he can reconcile his strongly worded statements following the publication of the Moriarty Tribunal report and striking up a government deal with Independents, lead by Lowry. 

Martin said that, despite his call in 2011 for Lowry to resign from the Dáil, he has been elected in every subsequent election by voters in Tipperary.

In 2011, the Moriarty Tribunal found that Lowry had an “insidious and pervasive influence” on the bidding process for the second mobile phone licence in Ireland when he was a minister in the 1990s.

The licence was granted to the Denis O’Brien-owned Esat Telecom in 1995. The tribunal found that O’Brien made or facilitated payments of hundreds of thousands of sterling to Lowry. Lowry and O’Brien have both rejected the findings.

Shortly after the report was published the Dáil passed an all-party motion to censure Lowry and called on him to resign his seat. 

In 2011, Martin told the Dáil that the tribunal’s report of Lowry “amounts to a shocking indictment of his behaviour”.

He told the Dáil at the time that Lowry “wants the House to put aside the report and believe instead a series of explanations that, in fact, explain nothing… It is not credible at the end of this tribunal to expect us to accept his blanket denials over the accumulated evidence”.

Asked about his 2011 comments this evening, Martin said:

First of all, what I said back then stands.

“What was revealed in the Moriarty Tribunal was shocking and was wrong, and I condemned that at the time, still do.

“The people of Tipperary and the people of a number of other constituencies have elected Independents. I have an overriding obligation now to form a government and to work to form a government, and it’s with quite a number of Independents, not just Michael Lowry, but all the others get forgotten about in all of the assessment of this and commentary on this.”

He added:

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“I don’t in any way condone what happened or the actions that were covered by the Moriarty Tribunal, but the people of Tipperary have elected Michael Lowry as well. We can’t ignore that.”

While there has been much discussion about the role the Independents will play in government, Martin said today that Lowry “is not in government”, reiterating “he is not a minister”.

He went on to state that “from day one, it’s been negativity all the way towards this [new] government”, stating that there needs to be “balance”. 

Martin was also asked if he agreed with comments made by another Independent TD Barry Heneghan, who said on Virgin Media’s Ireland Am programme this week that “there has been a lot of waste of taxpayers money” gone into the Moriarty Tribunal. 

The Tánaiste said he disagreed with the remarks, stating that the tribunal was ” very comprehensive. He added that George Moriarty “did an excellent job”.