[1] In the most controversial period of his officeholding, he cast the deciding vote at City Council to pass the 2003 budget, which included increases to domestic waste charges.

This came after several meetings had failed to pass any budget, and the Minister for the Environment & Local Government had threatened to disband the City Council.

After the vote, Lacey was expelled from the Labour Party Group on Dublin City Council, and spent the remainder of his term until the 2004 Local Elections as an Independent Councillor.

He contested the 2004 Local Elections as a Labour Party candidate in the Pembroke area, topping the poll on the first count, and rejoined the Labour Party Group on the City Council at its first meeting following that election.

[3] In December 2015, following an RTÉ Primetime Investigates programme, he said that many of the expense forms which councillors must complete are too complicated and should be simplified and streamlined.

At local level, Lacey is Chairperson of "Community Services - Sandymount, Irishtown, Ringsend".

He is on the Board of the Donnybrook Community Playgroup and is a member of Clan na Gael Fontenoys GAA Club.

He lives with his wife Jill, who works in the child protection unit of Scouting Ireland, and two children in Donnybrook, Dublin.

In March 2019, following ongoing public discussion about concerns raised about Scouting Ireland's child protection practices,[6] Lacey tweeted criticism of Tusla, saying it was arrogant and “allowed to get away with (it) by a lazy media and gullible politicians”.

He subsequently said that his criticism was not of Tusla's engagement with the board he sat on(and his wife's employer), but instead based on his experience in the fostering area.