JUNE 1999: Liam Lawlor's troubles with the Flood tribunal first come before the courts when the High Court hears his arguments against three orders made by the tribunal compelling his attendance as a witness to answer questions relating to his business and financial dealings.
July 1999: The High Court rules in Mr Lawlor's favour on two counts, finding the tribunal had exceeded its powers in making two of the orders, but upholds a third one. Tribunal lawyers appeal to the Supreme Court.
October 1999: The Supreme Court upholds the High Court decision in favour of Mr Lawlor.
April 2000: The tribunal hears evidence linking Mr Lawlor to payments made by lobbyist Frank Dunlop. Mr Lawlor resigns from Oireachtas Members' Interests Committee.
June 2000: Mr Lawlor resigns from Fianna Fáil. The tribunal is by now investigating numerous allegations of impropriety against Mr Lawlor and wants him to account for some £2.6 million (€3.3 million) that went through his 18 bank accounts since 1983 and could not be explained by his salary or normal business transactions. Mr Lawlor is issued with fresh orders compelling him to attend the tribunal as a witness.
October 2000: Mr Lawlor challenges the orders but the High Court rules against him and orders him to appear at the tribunal within a fortnight.
November 2000: He appeals the ruling to the Supreme Court which also finds against him.
December 2000: He spends four days as a witness at the tribunal in heated exchanges with tribunal lawyers and chairman, Mr Justice Flood, who issues repeated warnings about the quality of his answers. On December 15th, after a refusal to answer questions about his credit card transactions, Mr Justice Flood orders him out of the witness box and refers the matter to the High Court.
January 2001: The High Court fines Mr Lawlor £10,000 (€12,700) and sentences him to three months in prison but orders that he serve only a week with the remainder suspended. Costs believed to amount to £200,000 (€254,000) are also awarded against him.
He begins his week-long stay in Mountjoy Prison on January 17th and on release is given to the end of March to hand over all outstanding documentation.
He resigns his position as vice-chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and Public Service.
March-July 2001: The deadline for handing over documents is extended twice as tribunal lawyers sift through new files and assess their relevance. By the end of July they report they are dissatisfied with the quality of information supplied and the matter is again referred to the High Court where Mr Lawlor is fined a further £5,000 (€6,348) and ordered back to prison for another week. Mr Lawlor appeals to the Supreme Court.
December 2001: Supreme Court rules against Mr Lawlor and orders him back to prison for a week. The sentence is deferred to allow him spend Christmas with family in New York.
January 2nd, 2002: Mr Lawlor arrives at Mountjoy to begin his second prison term.