Michael Lowry was born in County Tipperary. He was educated at Thurles CBS and was elected to Tipperary North Riding County Council in 1979. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD for Tipperary North at the 1987 general election.

In 1993 he became Chairman of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. In 1994 he was appointed Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications in the Rainbow Coalition government.

A succession of controversies broke during his period of office, these included the granting of a mobile phone licence to Esat Telecom, plans for the Dublin Light Rail System and the closure of rural post offices - these culminated with accusations by Lowry of a cosy cartel operating in the public sector. At the McCracken Tribunal it was revealed that supermarket tycoon Ben Dunne had paid IR£395,000 for an extension to Lowry's home in Tipperary. This allegation prompted Lowry's resignation from the Cabinet in November 1996. When John Bruton announced that Lowry would not be allowed stand as a Fine Gael candidate at the next election he resigned from the party. The Tribunal concluded that Lowry had evaded tax.

At the following election Lowry announced that he would stand as an Independent candidate. The investigation of payments to Lowry is one of the remits of the Moriarty Tribunal which has been sitting since 1997. In early 2007, Lowry announced that he had made a full and final settlement of all outstanding payments with the Revenue Commissioners. His company Garuda had to pay up €1.2 million after a Revenue audit. He also paid almost €200,000 to settle his personal taxes.

At the 1997, 2002 and 2007 general elections, Lowry topped the poll in his constituency. He was an administrator in the Gaelic Athletic Association in the early 1980s as Chairman of the Tipperary County Committee.[citation needed] Later, as chairman of the Semple Stadium Development Committee, he was largely instrumental in raising the necessary funds for the refurbishment of the Stadium in preparation for the All-Ireland Centenary Hurling final in 1984.[citation needed] He is backed by a strong local organisation in Tipperary known informally as "Team Lowry"[citation needed] which consists of 4 County Councillors in North Tipperary, 2 Town Councillors in Thurles and 1 Town Councillor in Templemore.