Reporter may testify on Lawlor papers

The newspaper journalist who handed over documents to the Flood tribunal yesterday may be called to testify at the inquiry, it has emerged.

Mr Damien Lane, a journalist with the Sunday World, handed documents he said he found outside Mr Liam Lawlor's home in Lucan last week to counsel for the tribunal at a meeting in Dublin Castle yesterday.

He claimed the documents were the "remnants of a fire" at Mr Lawlor's home last Tuesday - the day before the west Dublin TD was jailed for a week for contempt of court.

The Sunday World published pictures of burnt and creased documents it said were found just outside the wall surrounding Mr Lawlor's house following a bonfire in the back garden.

Mr Lane said all the documents found by the paper had been handed to the tribunal. The "12 to 13" documents included credit card bills, constituency correspondence and three telexes sent to Mr Lawlor in 1987. The credit card bills were in the name of Mr Lawlor, he added.

Mr Lane arrived at Dublin Castle at 11 a.m. yesterday in the company of a colleague, Mr Padraig O'Reilly, a photographer who worked with him on the story. The two men were accompanied by the newspaper's solicitor, Mr Gerard Fanning.

Asked whether he would be testifying before the tribunal, he said: "That is a possibility."

Neither he nor the Sunday World had been contacted by counsel for Mr Lawlor, he said, though it is understood Mr Lawlor's barrister, Mr Ray Delahunt, is awaiting instruction from his client on the matter.

Meanwhile, Mr Lawlor is due to be released from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin at 2 p.m. today. He was jailed last Wednesday for seven days for contempt following his failure to co-operate adequately with the tribunal. At issue was his refusal to hand over documents relating to aspects of his financial affairs. Among these were details of his credit card transactions.