Fianna Fail TD Mr Liam Lawlor will have to wait for at least 10 days before he learns whether disciplinary proceedings will be brought against him.
A report by the Fianna Fail Standards in Public Life Committee on possible corruption and unethical behaviour within Dublin County Council was to have been completed at the weekend, but it is not now expected for about two weeks. Mr Dick Roche TD, a member of the committee, said last night there was still a considerable amount of work to do and it could be 10 days before the report was finalised.
The report will provide detailed summaries of the evidence given to the committee by Fianna Fail councillors and former councillors.
Mr Lawlor has appeared before Fianna Fail committees investigating planning and rezoning matters on a number of occasions in recent years. Last week, he denied receiving £40,000 as a political contribution from Mr Frank Dunlop in relation to the Quarryvale development. But he admitted receiving a sum of that nature for consultancy work.
In the 1980s, Mr Lawlor was paid £35,000 over a 10-month period by Arlington Securities and Mr Tom Gilmartin. Some years ago, Mr Lawlor told the Sunday Business Post this money constituted consultancy fees, but he later said the payments were political donations.
Meanwhile, the Flood tribunal is said to be investigating a claim that Mr Lawlor acted as a paid consultant for an offshore company, Jackson Way, which attempted to stop the construction of a £150 million motorway through its land in south Dublin last year. The Sunday Tribune reported that the company, based in the Isle of Man, reached a settlement with the National Roads Authority and the Department of the Environment prior to a Supreme Court hearing.
About 10 years ago, the 106 acres involved was bought by Mr Jim Kennedy, a former publican and arcade owner, who had a close relationship with Mr Lawlor and with disgraced former assistant Dublin county manager, Mr George Redmond. The land was later transferred to Jackson Way, a company fronted by nominee directors, which was previously called Paisley Park. Mr Dunlop had been employed by Paisley Park to lobby for the rezoning of land.
There is considerable pressure from within the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party to leave any adjudication in relation to corruption in the planning process to the Flood tribunal. The embarrassment suffered by Fine Gael over the nature of its investigation and the absence of judicial process in the current inquiry is cited as justification.
However, if an overly legalistic approach is adopted it will raise questions over the relevance and enforceability of the code of conduct adopted by Fianna Fail.
Because of that, some senior party members are urging that the report should allow disciplinary action to be taken. The Minister for Social Welfare, Mr Ahern, said at the weekend that no serving politician should receive consultancy fees for matters that impinged on his sphere of influence.
At the same time, the Progressive Democrats party has insisted that strict disciplinary action will be required - in advance of the Flood tribunal findings - if unethical behaviour is uncovered. The party has threatened to leave the Coalition rather than depend on the vote of a TD who has serious questions to answer.
The Standards in Public Life Committee is expected to take a two-pronged approach to its report because of the defamation laws. In all cases, the facts established by the committee and the evidence of councillors will be provided in some detail. That material may, conceivably, be sufficient for disciplinary action to be initiated by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern. But where allegations are made that cannot be substantiated, the material will remain private and will be forwarded to the Flood tribunal. The report will be supplied to the Taoiseach, the parliamentary party and to the national executive.
The parliamentary party has the power to remove the whip from a TD, but only the national executive has the power to expel a member of Fianna Fail for "conduct unbecoming".