Lowry sets up unlimited farm company

THE INDEPENDENT deputy for Tipperary North, Michael Lowry, has set up a new company along with two of his adult children.

The company, Glebeland Farm, is an unlimited company with 300 issued €1 shares which are held equally by Mr Lowry and his children.

The memorandum of association filed for the company, which outlines the objects for which the company is established, gives the business of horse breeders and stud farmers as the first-listed object. It also mentions managing a livery yard, stables and a professional horse breeding facility including the purchase and sale of thoroughbred horses.

However Mr Lowry said the company was being established to handle his dealings with cattle and horses on 30 acres that he owns.

He told The Irish Times he formed the company on the advice of his accountants and that it was unlimited “so as to stop people like you nosing around in my business”. Unlimited companies do not have to publish accounts.

Mr Lowry is the owner of a mare, Wedding Morn, which he purchased in 2007 and which has been kept in Coolmore Stud. Offspring from the mare have been sired by Coolmore’s Danehill Dancer and have sold for a cumulative €410,000.

One of the offspring, Probably, did well in a race in the Curragh earlier this year, sparking speculation that future offspring might be able to command larger prices.

However Mr Lowry said the recent speculation in the media was “wide of the mark” and that Probably had not done so well in its last three races.

He said he had been involved in syndicates and had always had a few national hunt brood mares and flat racing horses.

He said such involvement was not so expensive when you were in syndicates. He said it was hard to make money from breeding horses.

Mr Lowry is a director of a number of companies including Garuda Ltd, a refrigeration business that trades as Streamline Enterprises.