The Government may hold a special Cabinet meeting later this week to consider the report of the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Hamilton, on the controversial case of Philip Sheedy.
The report is expected to be given to Government tonight, not in time for consideration by the Cabinet, which is meeting exceptionally early to facilitate the departure of the Taoiseach for the special EU summit in Brussels.
Senior Government sources last night speculated that a special Cabinet meeting would need to be called later this week to discuss it.
It is unlikely that the report will be published before being considered by the full Cabinet, which would not normally be scheduled to meet again until next Tuesday.
With the Government anxious to avoid any suggestion that it is reluctant to publish the report, it may not prove politically feasible to wait almost a week before publishing the findings of Mr Justice Hamilton.
A spokesman said that the Government's response to the report would be dictated by the nature of the findings, although it is by no means clear if the judge will issue recommendations.
There was speculation in legal circles that Mr Justice Hamilton would give a detailed narrative account of the circumstances and sequence of events surrounding the case, but would not reach specific conclusions.
The focus of Opposition attention yesterday turned to the transcript of the court proceedings of November 12th last when Sheedy's four-year prison sentence for dangerous driving causing death was effectively cut by three years by Judge Cyril Kelly in the Dublin Circuit Court.
The court transcript, released yesterday to the Justice, Equality and Women's Rights Joint Oireachtas Committee, confirms that Judge Kelly relied on a psychological report on Sheedy in reaching his decision to suspend the balance of his sentence. "I have grave concern in relation to his mental condition at the moment", the judge said.
Judge Kelly noted that the review date, which would have ensured that Sheedy remained in prison for two years, had been "vacated". Releasing him, he said that, after reading the "various reports", he was concerned about Sheedy's "mental stability".
The brevity of the hearing was described as "quite extraordinary" by Fine Gael's justice spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins. It was equally startling that nobody in court had asked if there was anybody present representing the State's view. According to Mr Higgins, the psychologist's report on Sheedy should also be published.
Meanwhile, Government sources dismissed reports that a former Fianna Fail councillor, Mr Joe Burke, had visited Sheedy at Shelton Abbey as "an obvious attempt to draw the Taoiseach into newspaper headlines about the case".
It is understood that Mr Burke, a builder, knew Sheedy through business and, while on a trip to Carlow, called to Shelton Abbey in Co Wicklow to see him.
Court transcript: page 7
Editorial comment: page 15