Lowry help for pretty woman was all in vain
THE woman described by Michael Lowry as ‘not bad looking’ in his bid to get her back on a State agency has not sought a reappointment.
Valerie O’Reilly was billed as ‘a woman, bright, intelligent – and not bad-looking either!’ in a note written by Mr Lowry for Enda Kenny.
The note had pressed the Taoiseach for Ms O’Reilly’s re-appointment to the National Transport Authority. Both the existence of the note and its reference to her looks caused uproar. She was Mr Lowry’s former press adviser.
Now Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe has made new appointments to the NTA board and Ms O’Reilly is not one of them. Ms O’Reilly told the Sunday Independent she decided not to reapply for her board seat so she could pursue other directorships and concentrate on her public relations firm, Unicorn.
After the controversy over the note, Mr Lowry insisted the ‘not bad looking’ comment about the PR executive was a compliment.
The Independent TD for Tipperary North denied claims of cronyism and sexism at the time and when he was asked earlier this year i f he had any regrets, he said ‘none’.
He has said: ‘It is not politically correct for me to make that comment, but to be quite honest with you I have never heard of a situation where a woman took exception to a compliment on her appearance, on her dress, on her shoes or on her hairstyle.’ Mr Lowry said he sent his note to the Taoiseach as she had indicated to him that she would like to serve again, having been appointed by Noel Dempsey in March 2010, when the FF/Green Coalition was dependent on Mr Lowry’s vote.
He said he then looked in to her record on the board.
‘I was told quite emphatically that she was an excellent board member, diligent and effective, and overall she had made a very valuable contribution to the business of the board,’ said Mr Lowry, a former Fine Gael minister.
‘Then on Wednesday evening I was in
‘Who takes exception to a compliment?’
the Dáil chamber and, as is customary if a TD sees a minister or another member they wish to contact, I wrote a note to the Taoiseach which was hand delivered to him on the Government benches. ‘It wasn’t a conditional request, it wasn’t a demand, it was a mere reference.’ Mr Lowry was later told that the Taoiseach had left the note behind him at his desk in the Dáil chamber or that it had somehow escaped his folder.
I t was apparently picked up and given to a journalist by a Labour member.