What now for the tribunal:Liam Lawlor was to have been a key witness at the planning tribunal's hearings into the rezoning of Quarryvale, scheduled to begin next month.
Former government press secretary Frank Dunlop has told the inquiry that Mr Lawlor was "Mr Big" behind attempts to bribe councillors to rezone the shopping centre site in west Dublin in the early 1990s. Mr Dunlop says he gave the former Fianna Fáil TD for the area almost £50,000 for his efforts in securing the rezoning of the site. However, Quarryvale was only one of a number of tribunals in which Mr Lawlor figured centrally.
Lawyers for the inquiry believe he was involved in a secret business partnership with businessman Jim Kennedy and lawyer John Caldwell. Their venture involved the rezoning of land around Dublin and the movement of the resulting profit offshore, where it was shared between the three partners.
For years Mr Lawlor denied any involvement with Mr Kennedy, who is under investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau. However, documents discovered by the inquiry show the two were business partners in deals at Coolamber in west Dublin and elsewhere. Tribunal lawyers also believe Mr Lawlor was involved with the two men in the rezoning of land at Carrickmines; Mr Dunlop has alleged Mr Kennedy gave him £25,000 to bribe councillors for this purpose.
The tribunal began hearings into Coolamber earlier this year but the completion of this module and the start of hearings into the other land deals has been delayed by legal action taken by Mr Caldwell.
The tribunal was also pursuing Mr Lawlor for the costs of their High Court battle in 2001, which resulted in his imprisonment for six months.
His death is a setback for the tribunal and its efforts to establish the truth. However, given Mr Lawlor's failure to provide more information, it isn't a fatal blow, nor does it prevent the inquiry reaching conclusions about the allegations concerning him at some point in the future.
