"A Fianna Fail convention for the Dublin West County Constituency yesterday selected Mr Brian Lenihan, Mr Liam Lawlor and Mr Terry Boylan as candidates for the constituency in the forthcoming election," The Irish Times reported on May 9th, 1977, describing the beginning of Mr Lawlor's Dail career 23 years ago.
Addressing the convention, the FF ail spokesman on health, Mr Charles Haughey, said the traditional values and outlook to which Fianna Fail subscribed would be opposed to a new political opportunism which recognised no principles.
In April of 1980 The Irish Times reported that 17 of the 150 acres of land in the Lucan area which were rezoned for housing belonged to Mr Lawlor.
Mr Lawlor said he did not intend to sell any land and rejected as "totally unrealistic" valuations of £200,000 which were put on the land. The local Labour Party described the rezoning as "a hostile act against the people of Lucan".
However in 1981, the lands owned by Mr Lawlor were again rezoned, returning them to their agricultural zoning.
In February, 1989, Mr Lawlor failed to attend a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on State-sponsored bodies of which he was chairman and at which it was planned to question him about his involvement with the Goodman organisation. The subsequent resignation of Mr Lawlor from his chairmanship of the committee highlighted the lack of obligation on members of the Oireachtas to disclose their business interests.
On March 29th 1989 there was critical reaction to the payment of £1.9 million in compensation to Grange Developments Ltd, as a result of a denial of planning permission, by the assistant city and county manager, George Redmond. Mr Lawlor, speaking at a meeting of Dublin County Council blamed the decision on the courts.
On February 4th, 1991, a letter from Mr Lawlor was published in The Irish Times in which he said "very serious questions of journalistic ethics need to be fully answered in the public interest (which) deserve full disclosure". Mr Lawlor was questioning the coverage of the presidential campaign of Mrs Mary Robinson.
In June 1991 Mr Lawlor unexpectedly lost his Dail seat. "I'm a big fish in a small pond - it's only a temporary setback," he commented.
The Tribunal of Inquiry into the Beef Processing Industry heard that Mr Lawlor had travelled to Baghdad in 1989, allowing Iraqi officials believe he was a member of the Irish government.
In 1992 Mr Lawlor and Mr Brian Lenihan crossed swords over voting preferences in the constituency of Dublin West, in which they both stood.
In 1993 Mr Lawlor denied he was aware that over four acres of his land had been rezoned for housing. He said a small portion of his land was to be used to realign a narrow, winding lane.
By 1994 a judgment was made against him for £15,500 in favour of Cambridge Financial Services. An application by the Irish Nationwide Building Society to repossess his home was adjourned and later settled.
Mr Lawlor achieved his first front bench position in 1995 when he was appointed Fianna Fail spokesman on the arts, culture and heritage.
In 1999 Mr Lawlor identified himself as the TD referred to in reports which linked a Fianna Fail deputy with the former assistant city and county manager, George Redmond. However he insisted that he had no knowledge of Mr Redmond in anything other than Mr Redmond's official capacity.
In June of that year the High Court was told that Mr Lawlor was the only member of Dublin County Council elected in 1995 who had refused to be interviewed at the Flood tribunal.
Mr Lawlor was disqualified from driving for a year and fined £116 when he admitted a drink driving offence at Dun Laoghaire District Court in March of that year. In April he made a statement regarding the Liffey Valley Centre following Mr Frank Dunlop's appearance at the Flood tribunal.
He bowed out of the hearings into the conduct of FF TD Mr Denis Foley while declaring he intended to remain a member of the Dail Committee on Members' Interests.
On May 17th of this year Mr Lawlor said in a statement to the Fianna Fail Committee on Standards in Public Life that the real "scandalous" situation was that "young couples in Lucan and virtually everywhere else in the country (were) paying between £20,000 and £40,000 more than they should for basic housing".