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Michael Lowry (born 13 March 1953) is an Irish politician. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Tipperary North constituency since 1987.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Mr. Michael Lowry )〕 Lowry is a former Chairman of the Fine Gael political party and was Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications between 1994 and 1996. He resigned from his ministry in some controversy, and Fine Gael barred him from standing for their party again. Thereafter, he ran as an independent candidate and has maintained his seat in the Dáil ever since. The Moriarty Tribunal concluded "beyond doubt" that Lowry was a tax evader and had assisted businessman Denis O'Brien's consortium Esat Digiphone in acquiring a lucrative mobile phone licence in the mid-1990s, during Lowry's time as Communications Minister. O'Brien went on to become one of the richest men in Ireland.〔 Lowry also initiated a defamation lawsuit against ''Irish Independent'' journalist Sam Smyth, over an article Smyth had written regarding the Moriarty Tribunal as well as comments Smyth had made on a TV3 show. The defamation lawsuit was thrown out of several courts and Lowry was ordered to pay Smyth's legal costs. In more recent times his relationship with Kevin Phelan has come under scrutiny, with the emergence of a recorded conversation in which Lowry claims to have made an undeclared payment of €250,000. Despite being the subject of a criminal investigation resulting from several scandals pursuing him from his time in office, he continues to be very popular in his constituency. ==Early life== Lowry was born in County Tipperary and educated at Thurles CBS. He was elected to Tipperary North Riding County Council in 1979. In the early 1980s he was a Gaelic Athletic Association administrator, and was the youngest-ever Chairman of the Tipperary County Committee. He still runs a commercial refrigeration business, Streamline Enterprises, that he founded in controversial circumstances in 1988.〔 Later, as chairman of the Semple Stadium Development Committee, he was involved in raising the necessary funds for the refurbishment of the Stadium in preparation for the All-Ireland Centenary Hurling final in 1984.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Michael Lowry」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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