Lawlor ‘spends over 200,000 a year’

FORMER Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor, who claims he cannot afford to pay a stg£10,000 legal bill, has an annual expenditure of over €200,000.

Yesterday the planning tribunal urged the retired politician to “get on a plane” to London to obtain vital documents to assist the inquiry after it established he still has large financial resources, including stg£50,000 in an offshore account.

The former TD has repeatedly claimed that financial difficulties caused by his involvement with the tribunal have prevented him from paying overseas solicitors to release documents sought by the inquiry.