High Court confirms payment of £5,000 fine by Liam Lawlor

The High Court said today it had received payment of a £5,000 fine imposed on the imprisoned Dublin West TD, Liam Lawlor.

It had been reported that Lawlor, who is currently serving his second one-week prison sentence for failing to supply information sought by the Flood Tribunal, had failed to pay the fine - the deadline for payment having expired on December 31st.

Under High Court rules, he faced serving another month in prison if the fine was not paid by January 17th.

However, a spokesman for the court told ireland.comtoday that payment had been received. He said the cheque had been mistakenly sent to the Chief State Solicitor's office and that explained why it was three days late.

"It seems to have been a genuine mistake," he added. As to whether interest would be charged on days where the money was overdue, he said that had yet to be decided. In any case, it would be minimal, he said.

Lawlor’s constituency office confirmed this morning it had sent a cheque to the courts on behalf of the TD on December 18th.

Yesterday the former Fianna Fáil deputy, listed as prisoner 6409, arrived at Mountjoy Prison to begin his seven-day sentence, amid criticism over the decision to segregate him from other prisoners.