Liam Lawlor to serve another month in jail

Lawlor, who has already served two separate one week terms of a three month sentence for contempt of court, was also fined €12,700 at Dublin’s High Court.

The sentence was originally imposed last July, with the rest suspended on condition that the Dublin West member cooperated with the tribunal under Mr Justice Flood.

But today the court remained unconvinced that Lawlor had done all he could to comply with the tribunal and respond to its requests to disclose documents and information.

By failing to cooperate fully with the tribunal he had also failed to comply with the High Court order demanding that he did so, resulting in today’s jail sentence.

Mr Justice Smyth said Lawlor ‘‘had not done what he was supposed to do when he was supposed to do it’’. He ordered Lawlor to serve the sentence in Mountjoy Prison, in Dublin, from next Tuesday.

Leaving the court after the ruling Lawlor, a former member of Premier Bertie Ahern’s Fianna Fail party and now an independent deputy, told reporters: ‘‘Let natural justice take its course.’’

Senior Council John Trainor, for Lawlor, asked the judge for a stay on the payment pending an appeal. Mr Justice Smyth refused but said his order could be appealed.

Mr Trainor previously told the court Lawlor had done everything possible to provide the tribunal lawyers with the requested records.

Lawlor felt he would never be able satisfy the tribunal’s ‘‘unreasonable’’ demands, he said.

Mr Justice Smyth also ruled today that if Lawlor defaulted in paying the fine he would be charged at the court interest rate of 8% per annum from that date.

If the sum is not paid by April 9, Lawlor will have to serve a further prison sentence of one month.

The sentence cast further doubts on Lawlor’s future in the Dail.

He has not confirmed whether he intends to stand in his constituency at the next general election, expected in May.

But a recent opinion poll showed a majority of his own constituents agreed that he should be jailed.