A new organisation has been set up to carry out inquiries into standards in public life.
The Centre for Public Inquiry, under the chairmanship of former High Court judge and tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Feargus Flood, will carry out investigations into matters of public importance in Irish political, public and corporate life.
Mr Justice Flood was the former sole member of the Planning and Payments Tribunal, and he is joined on the board of the new body by Ms Alice Leahy of the homeless organisation Trust, Prof Enda McDonagh, former professor of theology at Maynooth, Mr Damien Kiberd, broadcaster and former editor of the Sunday Business Post, and solicitor Mr Greg O'Neill, who represents Justice for the Forgotten, the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, among other victims of human rights abuses.
Mr Frank Connolly, an investigative journalist who worked for a number of years with the Sunday Business Post, has been appointed executive director of the centre, and will be in charge of its investigations.
He told The Irish Times that the centre had acquired "generous" funding from Atlantic Philanthropies, the charity founded by Irish-American businessman and philanthropist Mr Chuck Feeney, and this will enable it to set up an office and employ a staff, initially of five, for five years. They would be advertising for investigative journalists this week, he said. He declined to state the centre's budget.
The topics for investigation would be decided collectively by the board and the staff, he said. "We are lucky to have Justice Flood," he said. "We will be looking to him for his wisdom, advice and input." He added that the board was not finalised yet, and new members may be added.
Asked whether the centre would offer awards for information, he said he did not foresee this. However, it did have a budget for supporting court cases where the person taking it was opening up an issue of public importance.
The centre would publish regular reports. It hoped to work very closely with the existing media and existing human rights organisations.
In its announcement of its foundation, the centre said it would publish reports on the ethical conduct of public office holders and the discharge of the State's human rights obligations.
It would seek to heighten public awareness of the need for whistleblower protective legislation, and would resource and assist individuals and groups who were victims of official wrongdoing.