Mr Liam Lawlor TD was preparing late last night to go to jail for a week although he had still not announced he was ruling out an appeal.Tensions between the Coalition parties are expected to rise sharply today after the Progressive Democrats made it clear Mr Lawlor - who is to report to the Garda this afternoon - must resign or be removed from the two Dail committees of which he is still a member.The tone of the comments from a PD spokesman, in response to queries from The Irish Times, contrasted with the position adopted by the Taoiseach last night. Questioned by reporters at a function in Dublin, Mr Ahern said the court decision to jail Mr Lawlor was unfortunate "for Liam on a personal basis".He declined to comment on whether Mr Lawlor deserved to be jailed. He repeated his statement of last year that "anybody who did not comply with the rules of the tribunal and what was set down in the setting up of the tribunal would be in breach of what the Oireachtas has stated and of course that was the finding of the judge yesterday".On Monday, Mr Lawlor was found guilty of failing to comply with a court order to provide the Flood tribunal with all of his company and financial records. Mr Justice Smyth fined Mr Lawlor £10,000 and sentenced him to three months in prison. He directed that seven days of the sentence be served from 2 p.m. today, but suspended the balance of the sentence on conditions.Last night Mr Dermot Ahern became the first Fianna Fail Minister to clearly criticise Mr Lawlor. "I accept fully what the judge said. It is a scandal . . . Fianna Fail fully accepts that," he told RTE's Prime Time.The PD spokesman said Mr Lawlor should be removed from the Committee on Finance and Public Service, and that on Public Enterprise and Transport if he doesn't resign. The PD move pre-empted Fianna Fail's strategy of seeking a voluntary decision by Mr Lawlor. Under pressure from Fine Gael to propose a Dail vote to remove him, FF ail sources suggested they would ask Mr Lawlor to resign from them when he left jail.Last night, the PD spokesman said of Mr Lawlor "The Dail can remove him from the committees and the Dail should do so."Fine Gael is expected to put down a Dail motion this week to have Mr Lawlor removed from the committees. Unless he agrees to resign, the PD position will force Fianna Fail into a Dail confrontation with Mr Lawlor they are anxious to avoid.A Government spokesman rejected Opposition claims there was a "secret deal" with Mr Lawlor for his support. However, some Government sources acknowledged the reluctance to alienate Mr Lawlor further.The Taoiseach did not respond yesterday to the Fine Gael call on him to table the Dail motion required to remove Mr Lawlor from the Dail committees.