"I am at a stage now where I honestly believe that the tribunal will do everything within its enormous powers to destroy myself and my family, financially, physically and emotionally, " she told the Sunday Tribune.

Breaking her silence for the first time since the death of her husband in October 2005, Hazel Lawlor said, "I am on a constant emotional knife-edge because the tribunal is persisting in trying to force me out of my family home.

"People who have committed the most terrible crimes against children and adults could not legally be treated the way my late husband and our family have been treated by sections of the media and a state tribunal provided with almost limited resources, " she said.

"I don't believe they will rest until I am forced out of the home we as a family have lived in, long before Liam ever entered politics. The tribunal secured massive financial burdens on our home in order to pay for the cost of previous court hearings where my husband sought to defend himself. The burdens were against Liam, but just as soon as they could, the tribunal sought to switch the huge financial burdens onto me."

Lawlor's claims come just days after she secured leave in the High Court to bring an action aimed at preventing the tribunal from making any findings of serious misconduct against herself or her husband unless it can prove those beyond reasonable doubt.

None of the tribunal modules involving Lawlor was completed at the time of his death in a car crash in Prague 16 months ago.

His widow, a mother and grandmother, claims that the tribunal destroyed the life of her husband, herself and their family and that "the last 10 years have been the most horrific and stressful in my entire life and in the life of my family. I really don't know how long I can keep going and hold out.

It was difficult enough when Liam was alive. It is twice as difficult now."

In a statement to the Sunday Tribune, she said: "Liam could not hide the awful physical and emotional toll that the tribunal exacted from him, especially in the years immediately before his untimely death.

"I effectively saw my husband disintegrate in slow motion before my eyes. The physical effect was visible and the emotional burden can only be described as inhuman."

Liam Lawlor appeared at the tribunal several times and he was imprisoned on three occasions - in January 2001, January 2002 and February 2002 - for a total of six weeks for contempt of High Court orders that required him to cooperate with the tribunal.

Lawlor represented himself at the tribunal as he could not afford legal representation and his widow's current High Court action aims to redress this. She has also requested that transcripts of private meetings between tribunal lawyers and witnesses be released to her as part of her current High Court action.

If this application is successful it could have serious repercussions for the future of Mahon and other tribunals, as it would mean that any future tribunal work would have to be conducted in public. The case continues before the High Court on 21 February.

When contacted by the Sunday Tribune, a spokesman for the Mahon tribunal said, "As a matter of practice, the tribunal does not comment to the media as it would be highly inappropriate."