Lawlor says it is up to electorate to decide if he should leave office

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, denied yesterday he had anything to fear from what the former Fianna Fail TD, Mr Liam Lawlor, might say about him.

A Government motion calling on Mr Lawlor to co-operate fully with the Flood tribunal within the time-frame set out by the High Court, and to resign if he does not do so, was passed in the Dail last night.

Mr Lawlor said he would not resign his seat and it was up to the electorate to decide whether he should leave office.

"It certainly is not the function of other members of the House" to force him to step down, he said.

Mr Lawlor also apologised to Mr Justice Flood, chairman of the tribunal, for the exchanges that occurred between them which he said were unhelpful to the chairman "in the difficult task he has to perform" and pledged his full co-operation.

Mr Ahern told the Dail that as Taoiseach he had to be more careful than others about expressing his opinions freely.

But some commentators, he said, and some TDs had "said or implied that the timing and the content of the remarks I have made" on calls for Mr Lawlor's resignation were "dictated wholly or in part by a fear or reluctance of what others, including Deputy Lawlor, might have to say in public about myself and my colleagues".

Mr Ahern said he was not afraid of what others might say or do in relation to himself. "I wish to make it clear that I am not in the smallest way inhibited by any such consideration."

In his speech, Mr Lawlor spoke about allegations in the Sunday World newspaper claiming documents had been burnt in his garden. He said a journalist and a photographer had trespassed on to his garden and removed papers. He intended taking legal action against the newspaper.

Fine Gael and the Labour Party had sought Mr Lawlor's immediate resignation. The Fine Gael justice spokesman, Mr Alan Shatter, said Mr Lawlor was "basically a blot on the landscape of Irish politics and he seems to even lack the awareness of Deputy Ray Burke, a former minister for justice, that his position as a member of the House is truly untenable".