Lawlor insists he never set out to block tribunal

Through a series of heated exchanges with the planning tribunal's legal team, Mr Liam Lawlor has again insisted he never set out to block the inquiry into his financial affairs.

The tribunal was continuing its investigation into the circumstances surrounding the sale of an acre of land adjoining Mr Lawlor's house in Somerton, Lucan, Co Dublin for £690,000 in November 2001. Mr Lawlor was sent an order of discovery by the tribunal last March for information detailing the whereabouts of the proceeds of this sale.

For what ridiculous purpose would I be withholding[information]? None Mr Liam Lawlor

Mr Des O'Neill, SC for the tribunal, claimed that the former Fianna Fail TD was deliberately trying to avoid full disclosure of requested documents. But Mr Lawlor insisted he and his secretary had gone to "extraordinary efforts" to provide information requested by the tribunal. "I am not withholding any information," he argued forcefully. "For what ridiculous purpose would I be withholding? None."

Mr Lawlor said he had a system in place whereby all cheques he had written since 1999 have been photocopied by his secretary and filed. However, his secretary was on holiday and he was having difficulty locating all his records.

The tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Alan Mahon, told Mr Lawlor he was not happy with his excuses, particularly as he had several months to comply with the order of discovery. "We're certainly not impressed that at this stage you're looking for extra time," the chairman added.

Mr Lawlor, who appeared today without legal representation, then admitted he had failed to comply fully with the tribunal, but said this was because he was more concerned with the "source of the funds rather than the dispersal". He claimed: "My omitting to discover how I dispersed funds was because I didn't even realise" that this was required"

Was it not the case, Mr O'Neill asked, that Mr Lawlor was happy to give one answer under oath, only to change it once the original had been shown to be false? A visibly angry Mr Lawlor denied the suggestion. "Absolutely not," he stated. "If you want to make a big hill of beans about that, fine."

At the start of this morning's proceedings, Mr Lawlor asked the tribunal to retract an allegation that there were "millions of pounds" that remained unaccounted for. "There's no millions, there's not even thousands," he said.

Mr O'Neill refused, saying yesterday's evidence remains the tribunal's position. "There's a volume of correspondence which clearly identifies large volumes of money for which there is no explanation."