Five former ministers for justice will give evidence before the Morris tribunal, The Irish Times has learned. Mr Ray Burke, Mr Padraig Flynn, Ms Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Ms Nora Owen and Mr John O'Donoghue have either already met the Morris tribunal or have appointments to meet it, as have a number of civil servants in the Department.
Those interviewed will be asked to give evidence orally before it in public hearings, though the tribunal has pointed out in earlier hearings that this in no way implies any wrong-doing.
The McBrearty family refused to co-operate with the tribunal as its terms of reference did not include the Department and ministers for justice. However, the fact that former ministers and civil servants are assisting the tribunal, and have not used the terms of reference to avoid doing so, may pave the way for them to change their view.
In a statement on Tuesday, the tribunal indicated that the Department of Justice and former ministers were co-operating fully.
The statement was explaining a delay in the resumption of public hearings because the Garda Commissioner is seeking an extension of time for producing an affidavit of discovery and has indicated he will be claiming privilege on certain documents.
The tribunal said: "The tribunal legal personnel have had a number of meetings with representatives of the Garda Commissioner, with the Department of Justice and with former ministers for justice. The tribunal is determined to discover the origin of any fault that may be found with the matters encompassed by the terms of reference, and in that regard feels entitled to explore the involvement of all State agencies which may have had dealings in this matter.
"Discovery of documents has been made by a number of parties in that regard and the tribunal staff are in the process of actively following up what further discovery may be necessary."
Among the documents discovered voluntarily by the Department of Justice, it is understood, were telexes relating to explosives "finds" in Co Donegal. One of the allegations under investigation is that fake explosives finds were made in order to advance the careers of certain Garda members.
These finds were regarded as a major success for the security forces, and resulted in a personal letter of congratulation to the then minister, Ms Geoghegan-Quinn, from the corresponding Northern Ireland minister, Sir John Wheeler.
The explosives finds are due to be examined in the first section of the tribunal, now scheduled to resume on March 3rd.
The level of knowledge of various former ministers and their civil servants of other items being examined by the tribunal, including allegations of forced confessions and harassment of the McBrearty family, will also feature in oral hearings.