Health Minister: I couldn't refuse Lowry meeting
Health Minister Dr James Reilly has said that it would have been improper of him to refuse to meet Michael Lowry last year because the Tipperary North TD is a public representative.
It has emerged that Minister Reilly met Deputy Lowry along with two other Tipperary North TDs last November to discuss a nursing home in their constituency.
It comes after Environment Minister Phil Hogan was criticised for a meeting he held with Deputy Lowry last March, just days after the publication of the Moriarty report.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny discussed that meeting with Minister Hogan by phone yesterday, with a spokesperson for Mr Kenny saying he had found nothing improper in the circumstances.
Speaking this morning Minister Reilly said voters in Tipperary North elected Deputy Lowry, and they deserved to have their voices heard.
"Michael Lowry, despite all the opprobrium, is nonetheless elected," the Health Minister said.
"(Deputy Lowry) topped the poll - a third of the people voted for him in north Tipperary.
"I cannot, as a democratically elected politician and minister, deprive the people of north Tipperary who voted for him of a voice at Government," he added.
"They have to be represented by the people that they elected to represent them."
