Labour has accused the Government of politicising the Flood and Moriarty inquiries by requiring the tribunal chairmen to make decisions on the controversy arising from the donation by Rennicks Manufacturing Ltd, a subsidiary of Fitzwilton plc, to Mr Ray Burke.
The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said the Government's own amending legislation earlier this year meant that changes in the tribunals' terms of references could now happen only on foot of requests from the chairmen. Referring to reported contacts between the Attorney General and the chairmen to discuss such a move, Mr Quinn said it was "wholly unsatisfactory" that the Attorney General has a role in the matter "since he does not act on behalf of the Oireachtas".
He added: "It undermines the independence of a tribunal from the political process if, as appears to be the case, it is being asked to request a change in terms of reference by a Government officer for the sole purpose of extricating the Government from a problem of its own making."
The criticisms came as Government sources raised the possibility that the terms of reference of both tribunals could be amended. The Attorney General is expected to have conferred with both Mr Justice Flood and Mr Justice Moriarty before tomorrow's Cabinet meeting. The Taoiseach will then outline the Government's preferred course of action during a private member's debate in the Dail later tomorrow.
Labour said the Government was falling victim to amending legislation that Department of Justice officials had advised was unnecessary. One legal adviser to the party said the Government's legislation had created an "absurd" situation where "the Government is asking the Attorney General to ask the tribunal chairmen to ask the Dail to amend the terms of reference." The Opposition parties will jointly sponsor a Bill next week which would effectively remove the tribunal chairmen's role in seeking amendments of their terms of reference.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fail reacted angrily to a claim by the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, that the Taoiseach's "fumbling procrastination" on the Burke affair was now distracting the Dail from the situation in Northern Ireland.
Mr Ahern's spokesman said: "Mr Bruton seems to have a short memory. At the time the Taoiseach learned about the Fitzwilton donation, he was involved in intense negotiations in London and Belfast that culminated in the Good Friday agreement. Northern Ireland was very much his priority at the time, but Mr Bruton seems to have forgotten that."
The Fine Gael leader has criticised Independent Newspapers for what he said were personal attacks on him in recent days. "It is an abuse of press power for a major newspaper group to use their columns and editorials over four days running to concoct replies on behalf of their owner to one speech in the Dail," he said.
He accused the newspaper group of being in a "state of denial" about the matter, citing an editorial in which it accused him of abusing Dail privilege to link Independent Newspapers and its chairman with payments to a politician.
Mr Bruton said: "The statement I made on that matter is factual in that Dr O'Reilly is chairman of the company that made the payment, so there is a link between him and the payment, whether or not he consented to or was aware of the payment . . . So that is a statement that could be made anywhere without benefit of privilege."
Last night a spokesman for Independent Newspapers said: "Mr Bruton was wrong to attempt to create a link between Independent Newspapers and Fitzwilton.
"Mr Bruton was wrong to state that Independent Newspapers, through Princes Holdings, had received 19 out of 29 MMDS licences awarded in 1989.
"The company was in fact awarded seven licences.
"The documentary evidence from the Department of Communications proved that the decision to award these seven licences was based on technical assessment by officials of the Department of Communications and financial assessment by independent consultants Stokes Kennedy Crowley.
"These unfounded allegations by Mr Bruton made under privilege, in the Dail, are damaging to the reputation of Independent Newspapers and the company will vigorously defend itself."
