Lawlor to resume evidence at Planning Tribunal

Former Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor is expected to face further tough questions when he returns to the witness box at the Planning Tribunal today.

Last week, the tribunal accused Mr Lawlor of failing to co-operate with its investigations and its requests for documents relating to his financial dealings.

Mr Lawlor had claimed that he could not afford to pay his lawyers to search for and retrieve these documents, but the tribunal discovered that he was living on an estimated €13,000 a month and had Stg £50,000 (€71,358) in an offshore bank account.

The tribunal also heard last week about how Mr Lawlor received £100,000 from property developer Michael Whelan in an off-the-books payment related to the sale of an acre of land attached to his home in Lucan, west Dublin.

Mr Lawlor had initially claimed that he received the money as a finder's fee after searching for property in London on behalf of Mr Whelan.

However, when the property developer took the stand the following day, he said this was untrue and that the money was a part payment for the acre of land in Lucan. He said Mr Lawlor had asked for the under-the-counter payment and issued a false invoice to cover up the reason he received it.