THE MAHON tribunal has agreed to give Hazel Lawlor, widow of the late Liam Lawlor TD, all documents related to the tribunal’s request for immunity from prosecution for developer Tom Gilmartin arising from his evidence to the tribunal, including all documents setting out the terms of that immunity.
Ms Lawlor had sought the Gilmartin and other documents for her forthcoming action against the tribunal.
Among the other documents to be discovered are all recordings of all private interviews conducted by the tribunal of witnesses who had, or who will give evidence in public, in modules in which Mr Lawlor had an involvement.
Those interviews include a tribunal interview of developer John Byrne and his legal adviser, and its interview on April 19th, 2000 of Frank Dunlop and his legal adviser.
In her judicial review proceedings, Ms Lawlor, Somerton House, Lucan, Co Dublin is seeking a number of orders and declarations, including an order restraining the tribunal from making any findings of serious misconduct against herself or her husband unless it can prove those beyond reasonable doubt.
The proceedings were before Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill yesterday to deal with issues concerning discovery of documents.
On consent of both sides, the judge made an order for the discovery of the documents sought, including all documents relating to the tribunal’s request for immunity for Mr Gilmartin and the terms of that immunity, which was granted by the DPP in 1998.
Ms Lawlor argued that she required the Gilmartin documents because Mr Gilmartin had made “unfounded and contradictory” allegations against her late husband.
Mr Gilmartin’s credibility was of fundamental importance to her in her efforts to vindicate her husband’s reputation before the tribunal, she said.
A separate application in which Ms Lawlor is seeking all documents from the DPP relating to the grant of immunity was adjourned for two weeks.
In her action, Ms Lawlor claims the tribunal had destroyed the life of her husband, herself and their family and that it had displayed a “vindictive and vengeful” attitude towards her husband. She was in personal fear of the powers of the tribunal and how they might be used against her, she said.
She is seeking several declarations, including that the tribunal may not make findings of serious misconduct against her late husband, who died in a car crash in Moscow in October 2005, or against herself, unless supported by evidence proven beyond any reasonable doubt, not on the basis of balance of probabilities.
Ms Lawlor also wants an order directing the tribunal to correct the record of its proceedings for a particular day of evidence by taking out an entry indicating that builder Séamus Ross had been paid a sum of IR£500,000 by Mr Lawlor.
Mr Ross had stated Mr Lawlor paid him IR£5,000, not IR£500,000. This “erroneous note” had damaged the reputation of the Lawlors, she said. The tribunal had wrongfully failed to correct its own record despite vigorous requests from her husband Liam prior to his death.
In an affidavit, Ms Lawlor, a mother of four, said no findings as such were made against her late husband by the tribunal, as no module in which he was involved was brought to a conclusion by the time of his death.
He had found the tribunal proceedings to be interminable and the failure to start and finish lines of inquiry was a matter of great frustration, confusion and exhaustion to him, she said.