A bizarrre detail from the Planning Tribunal in Dublin today. This is in the context of evidence that in any normal country would have already brought down Taoiseach Bertie Ahern but today's subject was the deceased and corrupt former Fianna Fail TD Liam Lawlor, whose political career was merely the leverage to a far more lucrative business in property development and "consulting". Also "consulting" was Frank Dunlop, a key intermediary between property kingpins and politicians --
The Mahon Tribunal has heard how the late Liam Lawlor used a forged invoice to cover a £25,000 payment from lobbyist Frank Dunlop. Mr Lawlor used the name of Ganley International, a company that had hired him to warn the Albanian government about the dangers of pyramid selling.
Mr Ganley said he had first met Mr Lawlor when he gate crashed his hospitality tent at the Galway races. He later discovered Mr Lawlor was a member of the international think tank the Trilateral Commission.
Mr Ganley said he hired Mr Lawlor in 1996 to warn the Albanian government to act against the growth of pyramid selling. Mr Lawlor was paid a total of around £30,000, which included expenses involved in hosting an Albanian delegation in Dublin.
Albania did indeed have a huge problem with pyramid schemes in this period, but when one source of the problem is poor governance, the last thing on Earth that you'd want to help solve the problem is advice from Fianna Fail in general and Liam Lawlor in particular. Could Lawlor really have been telling the Albanians about Ireland's clean politics? A forged invoice from a dubious venture truly encapsulates the state of Irish politics.
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