DAIL REPORT: It was incorrect but not illegal that a special facility was provided for Mr Liam Lawlor and his wife to exit Dublin airport last December, the House was told. The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, said "what happened, happened".
She rejected a claim by Fine Gael's Public Enterprise spokes- man, Mr Jim Higgins, that she did not remove Mr Dermot O'Leary from the board of Aer Rianta for his involvement in the controversy because he was a "powerful figure" in Fianna Fáil.
The Minister said she was not aware of what powerful position he held. She said Mr O'Leary apologised unreservedly "and I accepted it, as did the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance. And there the matter rests." Mr O'Leary had requested that the couple be facilitated on their passage through the airport as they returned from the US prior to the Dublin West TD's return to Mountjoy prison.
Aer Rianta is actively reviewing the appropriate protocol for the transit of high profile people through Dublin airport, Ms O'Rourke said.
