Mr Liam Lawlor TD resigned his position as vicechairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Services yesterday, rather than face a vote of no confidence from his parliamentary colleagues that he was certain to lose. Fine Gael tabled a motion which was supported by the Labour Party. And the balance swung irrevocably against Mr Lawlor when the Progressive Democrats' representative, Senator John Dardis, and Independent Senator, Mr Joe O'Toole, sided with the opposition parties in urging his resignation.
With no chance of escape, Mr Lawlor made a series of allegations - some new and some old - concerning the possibility of improper conduct by the leadership of the Progressive Democrats, Fine Gael and the Labour Party. After that, he announced his resignation in order to protect a rapidly shrinking political base. Although no longer a member of the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party, he remains an ordinary member of the Oireachtas committee and he still enjoys party facilities at Leinster House.
Mr Lawlor's behaviour has contributed significantly to growing public cynicism in relation to politics. He has consistently challenged attempts to investigate his activities in relation to planning matters and political fund raising. Last year, he resigned from the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party rather than face expulsion. A failure to co-operate in a meaningful way with an internal investigation conducted by the chairman, Dr Rory O'Hanlon TD, into allegations of vote-buying on Dublin County Council by Mr Frank Dunlop was at the centre of that decision.
Mr Lawlor's subsequent refusal to co-operate with the Flood tribunal generated an unprecedented Dail response when the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, and the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, joined in criticising his behaviour. "Every citizen and every member of the Oireachtas," the Taoiseach told the Dail in an agreed statement, "has a legal, moral and democratic duty to co-operate with the tribunal, not to obstruct it and to comply with its lawful orders."
Mr Lawlor was one of those Dail deputies who supported the terms of reference of the Flood tribunal and voted for its establishment to investigate corruption in the planning process. And yet, he fought doggedly to limit its investigation where his own interests were concerned. A lawyer for the tribunal told the High Court, during one of the many challenges to its authority, that Mr Lawlor regarded as ultra vires his personal accounts, his work as a consultant, any activities carried out when he was not a TD or a county councillor and matters relating to the tax amnesties. Those assertions were comprehensively rejected by the High Court and the Supreme Court and Mr Lawlor was directed to comply with the orders of the tribunal. Even then, however, his co-operation was so limited and grudging that Mr Justice Flood directed that he be cited for contempt before the High Court. Next Monday, Mr Justice Thomas Smyth will deliver his judgment in that matter. In the meantime, and mindful of the separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive, the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service has moved to put its own house in order.