Coalition to support call for Lawlor to resign

The Government is likely to support a motion calling for the resignation of Mr Liam Lawlor, which is to be debated by the Dáil later this week.

Government sources indicated yesterday they had "no problem" with the motion from the Labour Party calling for Mr Lawlor's resignation.

However, a number of legal issues remained to be checked before a wording was agreed.

The Dublin West TD had not decided last night whether to appeal the one month sentence he received in the High Court last week for failing to co-operate with the Flood tribunal.

Mr Lawlor's only chance of avoiding imprisonment lies in asking the Supreme Court today for a stay on the sentence. This is due to start at noon tomorrow.

Mr Justice Smyth ruled on Friday that Mr Lawlor had given the tribunal "too little, too late".

If he does go to jail, as scheduled tomorrow, he will miss the Dáil debate on his behaviour.

This is expected to take place on Wednesday or Thursday.

Labour's Mr Derek McDowell yesterday repeated his call on Mr Lawlor to "do the decent thing" and resign. "As politicians, we have to signal very strongly that we disapprove of what he's doing."

The Taoiseach indicated last week that the Government would readily support a motion of censure against the TD. However, the motion subsequently submitted by Labour included a call for his resignation.

If such a motion is tabled and passed, it would be the first time the Dáil would call for the resignation from the House of one of its members. This raises legal and constitutional issues relating to precedent, according to a Government source.

"The issue is whether we want to go down this road or not.

"Once we have, there's no going back."

The Dáil has no power to force Mr Lawlor's resignation.

Only bankrupts, people of unsound mind and those who are undergoing a prison sentence of longer than six months are debarred from membership.