Dáil pays tributes to ‘controversial but good guy’ Liam Lawlor

THE late Liam Lawlor was “controversial but a good guy”, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday.

Mr Ahern was leading the expressions of sympathy to the Lawlor family on the death of the former Fianna Fáil TD, who was killed in a car crash during a business trip to Moscow in October.

The family’s grief was exacerbated by a series of newspaper reports which erroneously claimed that Mr Lawlor had been in the company of a teenage prostitute at the time of his death. The woman was, in fact, a 32-year-old legal secretary and translator who frequently worked for Mr Lawlor. The papers involved subsequently apologised.

Yesterday, as Mr Lawlor’s wife Hazel and family members looked on from the Dáil gallery, Mr Ahern said the circumstances of his death were surrounded in the “same blaze of controversy that surrounded much of his political life”.

“Much has been said and written about the manner in which his death was reported. There are lessons for us in politics and for the media who perform a valuable service in reporting our work,” Mr Ahern said.

We should remember that charity is not the enemy of justice and neither justice nor charity is the enemy of the truth. We all have our faults and moral judgment is something we should pass sparingly.”

He recalled Mr Lawlor’s sporting achievements as a Dublin senior hurler, his business career prior to entering the Dáil in 1977 and his dedication to his constituents once elected.

But Mr Ahern added: “The finest testaments to Liam, and the ones he would have been most proud of, are the extraordinary grace and dignity of his wife Hazel, who I have been honoured to know for decades, and the eloquent defence of their deceased father by his loyal and loving children.”

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Mr Lawlor’s name was “synonymous with political controversy and equally synonymous with the Fianna Fáil party”. But he chose to speak not about “the politician or former member of Fianna Fáil, but the individual”, adding: “Personally, Liam Lawlor was a kind and generous man.”

Similarly, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said that, on such occasions, the House operated on the principle of ‘De mortuis nil nisi bonum’ - one does not speak ill of the dead.

“I had more than my fair share of conflict with the late Deputy Liam Lawlor. I would like to be able to say that he had used his prodigious talents exclusively in the interests of public service and to enhance politics. I cannot say that, but today is not the time to assess the political contribution of Liam Lawlor.

“Rather it is an occasion to allow all sides of this House to offer our sincere condolences to his direct family and to his extended family, and I join in doing that,” he said.

Others to offer their condolences were Tánaiste Mary Harney on behalf of the PDs, Junior Minister Brian Lenihan, Green Party leader Trevor Sargent, Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, and Deputies John Curran (FF), Joan Burton (Labour) and Paul Gogarty (Green).