Originally Posted by
zuiderzee
Michael Lowry was first elected to the Dail in 1987.
His contact with Ben Dunne through Thurles based Butler Refrigeration ensured financial donations for Fine Gael and played a critical role in his rapid rise in the parliamentary party, so much so that he was from 1994 to 1996 Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, with which there are issues still under investigation.
Soon after his election Lowry left Butlers, and in addition to his work as a TD he also started up a consultancy work for Dunne's.
He then set up a company, Garuda Ltd, that traded under a different name - Streamline Enterprises - and started to conduct work for Dunnes, after Ben Dunne had told the TD he was no longer going to use Butler Refrigeration.
The auditors to Streamline would be Dunnes own inhouse team of Oliver Freaney and Co. Dunnes chief accountant, Michael Irwin - on secondment from Oliver Freaney would have full access to Streamlines accounts.
An arrangement was reached whereby Streamline would work for Dunnes and be paid in a way that a modest profit would be returned annually.
The second part of the arrangement - and the most lucrative - was that Dunne would give Lowry a personal bonus.
This payment was essentially based on how pleased Dunne was with the services Lowry provided.
Lowry told the McCracken tribunal that Dunne had told him "I will certainly make it worth your while and your company will be successful and you will be a wealthy man"
In addition to his TD salary, provided by the tax payer, he received a number of large payments from Dunne amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
These payments were given to him in such a way that allowed tax evasion, much of the money was lodged in offshore accounts.
The McCracken tribunal ruled that by accepting payments in the way that he did, Lowry made himself vulnerable to all kinds of pressures from Dunnes Stores had they chosen to apply them, as well as convicting him of tax evasion.
At the McCracken Tribunal it was also revealed that Dunne had paid £395,000 for an extension to Lowry's home.
