A committee of Dáil deputies will today begin detailed examination of the controversial Church/State deal on compensation for child abuse victims after Mr Michael McDowell criticised his own Government for how it negotiated it.
There was no indication of a coalition rift on the issue last night after the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, appeared content with the conduct of the negotiations leading to the deal.
Despite the unhappiness of her party colleague, Mr McDowell, the Minister for Justice, a spokesman for the Tánaiste said Ms Harney was "happy with the way in which it was put together". He said she regards it as "the right deal to have been done and is supportive of it".
However, Mr McDowell, the former Attorney General, yesterday outlined in detail how he was excluded from key negotiations and that he felt this was "unwise". He declined to endorse the deal as a good one, saying he could not know whether it was or not as he was not at key negotiations.
He said that he told the then Minister for Education, Dr Michael Woods, in early 2002 that he was unhappy "that what seemed to be very important decisions were being made without adequate legal input".
This followed the decision of Dr Woods to exclude representatives from the Attorney General's office from two crucial meetings at which the deal was agreed in principle, whereby the State gave the religious orders indemnity against future compensation claims in exchange for a €127 million contribution to the compensation fund.
These meetings took place on November 7th, 2001, and January 7th, 2002. Mr McDowell, then Attorney General, met Dr Woods and the Taoiseach in early 2002 and it was at this meeting he complained about his exclusion from the talks, he told reporters yesterday. He later had difficulty in obtaining from Dr Woods a full account of the negotiations, he said.
In a forthright account of what had happened, Mr McDowell said it was not "a wise decision" to exclude his office from what he saw as a crucial part of the negotiations.
"If you're asking me whether the Attorney General's office was involved to an appropriate level at all times, the answer is that I have to candidly disagree with the former minister."
Earlier, Dr Woods had said Mr McDowell's former office had been involved at all appropriate times. On February 11th last the Taoiseach said that "the Attorney General and his office was involved throughout the entire period".
While the versions of Dr Woods and Mr McDowell were directly contradictory yesterday, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, sought to defend both the handling of the negotiations by Dr Woods while offering high praise for the efforts of Mr McDowell.
The current Minister for Justice was "a person who has shown extraordinary commitment to public service, did a first-class job as Attorney General and continues to do so as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform".
Mr Ahern also argued the State was badly exposed legally to massive compensation claims before the deal was done and it had to be judged in these circumstances.
The Dáil Public Accounts Committee will today begin to examine the deal, questioning the secretary general of the Department of Education, Mr John Dennehy, who was centrally involved in its negotiation.
The all-party committee of TDs also expects to hear today from a senior official at the Department of Finance.