Government needs to cut links with Michael Lowry
Sir, We have a strange culture of acceptance in this country regarding the antics of some of our elected politicians. Despite his clean image it was obvious in recent weeks that, under the veneer, our Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has shown he has a credibility problem. Previously it was claimed he had no special deal done with Michael Lowry, but it has since transpired that Mr Varadkar canvassed him for his support to help keep the government in power.
Even prior to his recent criminal conviction, Michael Lowry had a history which ought to be enough for Leo Varadkar to steer clear of him. His past association with billionaires, along with his dealings linked to the awarding of a telephone licence in 1996 while serving as a FG minister have cast a shadow over his political career for more than 20 years. Incidentally it was the following year that Leo Varadkar joined Fine Gael, as he deemed them to be a party of credibility.
Yet, it would appear that the conviction recently handed down to Michael Lowry will be glossed over by this government so as to stay in power. Considering his chequered history, the present association between Michael Lowry and the leader of our country would not be tolerated in any other democracy. If he had been elected in any other democracy, he would have been forced to resign long ago and would most probably have been unelectable.
It is incredible that Michael Lowry seems to think his recent conviction is due to an agenda and a campaign against him, which in reality it is. It is an agenda for truth, transparency and integrity in public office.
Despite the findings against him in the Moriarty Tribunal – published in 2011 – it appears to be business as usual for Mr Lowry in our parliament. While Leo Varadkar is trying to portray himself as a modern Taoiseach with a clean image, he is allowing Mr Lowry to be more influential as an Independent TD than he has been since he was a minister, simply because the government is relying on his support.
The time ought to have come for our Taoiseach and government to break whatever arrangements they have with Mr Lowry in order to preserve what remnants of democracy we have left in this country.
In more recent days, along with attacking the Irish media, the judgement of our Taoiseach has once again being brought into focus and has sent out a poor signal when he used the rock group U2, who do not pay their taxes in Ireland, to promote another one of his vanity agendas in seeking to get an Irish member on the UN security council. If successful, this will be as useful as having a lighthouse in a bog or a candle on a motorbike. He and his entourage have more pressing work to do at home around Brexit and addressing the many other issues facing us at the moment. Of course it was a nice ego trip for them at our expense. Sincerely,
Christy Kelly, Templeglantine.