Lawlor faces new threat of prison

Mr Liam Lawlor faces the threat of a third term of imprisonment when his level of co-operation with the Flood tribunal comes up for review in the High Court today.

Lawyers for the tribunal will tell Mr Justice Smyth whether they consider Mr Lawlor has complied with his order to provide the tribunal with all the financial records it requires.

The tribunal submitted an affidavit outlining its position on the matter over Christmas. It is expected that lawyers for the West Dublin TD will either submit a replying affidavit this morning or ask for more time to do so.

The present matter goes back to last July, when Mr Lawlor's case was last before the High Court. On that occasion, as he was sentencing the TD for a second time to prison, Mr Justice Smyth ordered Mr Lawlor to file a further affidavit containing all outstanding information sought by the tribunal.

In the hearing immediately before this decision, Mr Lawlor had stated that he had provided all the documents in his possession.

However, in September he furnished a further affidavit, and the tribunal was then invited to review the level of his co-operation.

The politician subsequently appealed Mr Justice Smyth's verdict to the Supreme Court. This court unanimously rejected his appeal and ordered him to serve the seven-day sentence.

Its decision to defer the sentence until after Mr Lawlor travelled to the US for a Christmas holiday was widely criticised. Mr Justice Smyth originally sentenced the TD to three months in jail in January 2001, but he suspended all but a week of this.

As Mr Lawlor served a second week in jail earlier this month, 2½ months of this sentence therefore remains outstanding. It is unclear, however, whether he is still liable to serve any or all of the remaining term of imprisonment.

Mr Lawlor is expected to announce next month whether he will stand as an independent candidate in the general election later this year.