A Government Minister is to make formal inquiries into how special arrangements were made to bring the disgraced TD Mr Liam Lawlor through Dublin Airport on New Year's Day.
The Minister for Public Enterprise, Mrs O'Rourke, is to write to the chairman of Aer Rianta today to ask him what occurred.
A spokesman for the Minister said last night that she would be "seeking particulars in relation to the return of Mr Lawlor to Dublin Airport" from the state company's chairman, Mr Noel Hanlon. The letter represents a change of view at the Department, which earlier yesterday said it was concerned with "broad policy issues" at Aer Rianta rather than details of what arrangements were made for individuals at airports.
Mr Dermot O'Leary, a Fianna Fáil activist and member of Aer Rianta's board of directors, has denied involvement in making special arrangements for Mr Lawlor.
Reports yesterday named Mr O'Leary, a former chairman of CIÉ, as the person who telephoned Aer Rianta management and asked that the Dublin West TD be assisted arriving at and leaving Dublin Airport so as to evade the waiting press on his return from New York.
Mr O'Leary was not available for comment yesterday at either Dublin Airport or at his plant-hire company. He was not available for comment at his home last night.
However, on Wednesday he said suggestions that he had been involved in making the arrangements were "complete falsehoods".
"I have been good friends with Liam Lawlor for 30 years," he said. "I don't have anything to say. They are complete falsehoods. I know absolutely nothing about it."
Mr Lawlor arrived at Dublin Airport on a scheduled flight from New York on January 1st. He and his wife had been visiting their son and daughter-in-law over Christmas.
The following day Mr Lawlor began a seven-day prison sentence in Mountjoy Prison. The sentence had been deferred by the Supreme Court in December to facilitate the trip to New York.
A spokeswoman for Aer Rianta yesterday reiterated the stance of the company, given on Wednesday.
"I am not going to either confirm or deny it," she said. "We have been told not to comment. We cannot comment on individual passengers."
Asked whether it would be usual for a board member to request special arrangements for a family member or friend during their passage through the airport, she said there were no formal procedures.
"It would depend on the circumstances," she said. "If a member had an elderly relative travelling alone, then of course we would look after them."
A spokesman for Customs and Excise at Dublin Airport said he would not comment on whether special arrangements were made. "But provision is there for special arrangements for individuals if we're asked by airport management," he added.
Earlier yesterday the Fine Gael spokesman on public enterprise, Mr Jim Higgins, called on Mr O'Leary to clarify the situation and also sought a statement from the Minister. "She appointed Mr O'Leary to the board. She is the main stakeholder in the board and I think she has an obligation, in view of the public controversy, to state what exactly happened in terms of the manner in which Mr Lawlor was facilitated."
During the afternoon a spokesman for her Department said the allegations were not its concern.
"The Department is not involved in the day-to-day running of the airport. We are involved in broad policy issues, but the minutiae of which door individual passengers go in or come out of are essentially security matters for the airport management," he said.
Mr Lawlor will make up his mind in the middle of February whether or not he will run for the Dáil in the next general election, RTÉ reported yesterday. On RTÉ's Five Seven Live, the reporter Charlie Bird said Mr Lawlor had told him yesterday: "I'm under an awful lot of pressure at the moment from people in my constituency to run . . . There's a lot of goodwill towards me at present in the constituency and I will make up my mind by the middle of February as to whether or not I am going to run."
