Hearing opens on Lawlor's legal bills

The High Court Taxing Master, Mr Charles Moran, will today deal with five bills of legal costs against Dublin West TD Mr Liam Lawlor.

Three of the bills total around €350,000. The hearing is expected to last two days.

When the matter came before Mr Moran last January, Mr Stephen Daly, a legal cost accountant employed on behalf of Mr Lawlor, asked for an adjourment of the hearing.

He said he had only received instructions days earlier from Mr Lawlor's solicitor in respect of three bills and had made arrangements to collect very substantial files from solicitor Mr Brian Delahunt, who had acted for Mr Lawlor during the relevant period.

Mr Paul Behan, a legal tax accountant acting on behalf of the Flood tribunal, said he had been instructed to resist the application for an adjournment.

Mr Behan said Mr Lawlor had a history of delay and disruption in this matter. He had been instructed that such delays would not be tolerated in relation to the taxation for costs.

The three bills before Mr Moran related to the tribunal's application for costs following an order made by Mr Justice Smyth in October 2000, when the judge directed Mr Lawlor to make discovery of documents and to attend before the tribunal. That led to an appeal by Mr Lawlor to the Supreme Court in November 2000. At that appeal, the High Court order was upheld with costs awarded again against Mr Lawlor.

In January 2001 another order for costs was made when the matter came before Mr Justice Smyth. This followed a complaint that Mr Lawlor had failed to comply with a discovery order. It resulted in Mr Lawlor spending his first of two seven-day terms in prison. Mr Lawlor later served an additional month in prison.

Mr Behan told last January's hearing that two other bills of costs were being prepared and would be issued shortly to Mr Lawlor's experts.