Lowry attempts to stop trial on alleged tax offences
An attempt by former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry to stop his trial on alleged tax offences is due to go before the High Court today.
The 60-year-old from Glenreigh, Holycross, Co Tipperary claims he is being treated unfairly, and that the case relates to a payment the Independent TD declared and paid.
Mr Lowry is facing four charges that he allegedly filed incorrect tax returns in 2003 and 2007.
The court heard yesterday that Independent TD Mr Lowry has made a formal complaint about how a note he sent to Taoiseach Enda Kenny came into the public domain.
The contents of the handwritten note, asking Mr Kenny to consider reappointing Valerie O’Reilly — a former PR adviser to Mr Lowry — to the board of the National Transport Authority was published in the Sunday Independent last month.
Mr Lowry’s counsel Patrick Treacy SC told Mr Justice Seamus Noonan the manner in which the note made its way into the public domain, in advance of Deputy Lowry’s trial on alleged tax offences, is prejudicial to his client.
The circumstances of how “individuals in Dáil Éireann” provided the newspaper with the note is now the subject of a formal complaint by the Tipperary TD to the Dáil’s Committee on Procedures and Privileges, counsel said.
Mr Treacy was addressing the court as part of Mr Lowry’s application for permission to bring a High Court challenge aimed at preventing his trial before Dublin Circuit Court on alleged tax offences. Mr Lowry is facing four charges that he allegedly filed incorrect tax returns in 2003 and 2007. His trial was transferred from Co Tipperary to Dublin on the application of the DPP, based on the number of people who have voted for Mr Lowry in elections in Tipperary.
Additional reporting by Ann O'Loughlin in today's Irish Examiner.
