Amendment to motion on Flynn could bring daughter back on board

Ms Beverly Cooper-Flynn may vote with the Government tomorrow night when the Dail concludes debate on a Fine Gael motion concerning an alleged donation to the EU Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn.

The Government will decide this morning on an amendment to the motion, which calls on the Clerk of the House to seek an account from the Flood Tribunal of its legal advice concerning public statements on the matter by the Commissioner.

Last night, Ms Flynn said she would not decide how to vote until the wording of the amendment was made known. The debate begins this evening.

However, Government sources indicated that the amendment would propose simply that the matter be left to the Flood Tribunal, and the wording might be sufficiently neutral to allow Ms Flynn to vote in favour. She lost the Fianna Fail whip last month when she voted against a Government amendment which called on her father to make a statement.

In an RTE radio interview yesterday, asked if he ever thought "a £50,000 donation" would "overshadow" his work at the Commission, Mr Flynn said: "You must understand that political donations to political parties or to individuals - there's nothing illegal about that. There never was." Mr Flynn said he subscribed "very much" to the idea that politicians should have to declare their political donations. The Government Chief Whip, Mr Seamus Brennan, will have his usual weekly meeting today with the Independents who support the Government, but there were no indications last night that any of them would vote with the Opposition. Labour will be supporting the Fine Gael motion.

The motion arises from correspondence last week, in which Fine Gael wrote to the tribunal asking it to clarify the position on legal advice which Mr Flynn claimed precluded him from commenting publicly on matters discussed with the tribunal.

Replying on behalf of the sole member, Mr Justice Flood, the tribunal's solicitor said divulging such information would create an "undesirable precedent". She added that the chairman "would, of course, respond to any request that might be addressed to him by the Clerk of the Dail on behalf of the Oireachtas".

Tonight's motion asks the Clerk to inquire whether the tribunal is of the opinion that Mr Flynn is "absolutely constrained" from making a public statement.