MICHAEL Lowry wants to address the Dail in response to “so-called new allegations” about him by Pearse Doherty.
The Sinn Fein TD, under Dail privilege, claimed he burned documents relating to a deal to buy Doncaster Rovers football club in the UK in a bid to hide them from a tribunal.
The club was bought by businessman Denis O’Brien in 1998, with Independent TD Lowry claiming he never had any part in this deal.
But Doherty alleged on Thursday that “fake documents” were made for the Moriarty Tribunal to create a “false narrative”.
And he urged Lowry, a member of the Regional Independent Group, to “come clean”.
Lowry said he wrote to Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy’s office hours after Doherty “availed of Dail privilege to make so-called new allegations in respect of my dealings with the Moriarty Tribunal”.
He today added: “I formally requested an early opportunity to make a personal statement on the floor of the Dail to address this smear.”
A tribunal report said it was “unable to determine the precise nature” of Lowry’s interest in the team and the “extent to which it was intended he’d benefit”.
Earlier this week, both Mr O’Brien and Mr Lowry insisted that Mr Lowry had no involvement in the Doncaster deal.
However, speaking under Dail privilege, Pearse Doherty claimed that Deputy Lowry had “57 meetings in relation to the Doncaster deal including here in the Houses of the Oireachtas with the organisers of the project and representatives of sport.”
The Sinn Fein TD said: “These payments were never disclosed to the tribunal.
“Will he use Government’s time to explain to this House and the public why he on the 15th of March 2001 met with other key individuals in relation to this deal in Dublin – the outcome of the meeting was the creation of a false narrative and fake new documents.
“Fake documents that were given to the tribunal.
“Maybe he could explain why he, it is claimed, with two others that were central to these deals met in a rural farm on August 2002 to burn the original documents pertaining to these deals.
“He did so to make sure that the truth would never see the light of day.
“The information that I am telling you now Tanaiste comes directly from one of the men present.”
