Tribunal debate to focus on who can alter terms

Argument about whether the Dail or Government should have power to initiate changes in a tribunal's terms of reference will dominate today's second stage debate on the Tribunals of Inquiry (Amendment) Bill.

If passed, the legislation will allow the terms of the Flood tribunal to be amended to include investigation of payments made to the former minister, Mr Ray Burke. It emerged last night that Mr Justice Flood has already requested extra staff to deal with the expected new workload.

The Government hopes the Bill will be passed by the Oireachtas this week, enabling it to finalise the wording of the changes in Flood's terms next week. But Opposition parties claim the proposed legislation effectively excludes the Dail from the process.

The Bill arose out of the controversy caused by revelations of a second £30,000 donation to Mr Burke in June 1989. Last week the Government bowed to Opposition pressure by saying all issues arising from the payment would be referred to the Flood tribunal.

But, under amending legislation already passed this year, the process of changing terms of reference can only be initiated by a tribunal chairman. The latest Bill would amend this to allow the Minister who sets up a tribunal to seek changes in its terms, via consultation between the chairman and the Attorney General. The Opposition has criticised the proposal, both for giving the chairman discretion to refuse such a request for change, and for giving the Dail no role in initiating the process.

Labour claims the measure would give the tribunal "blanket power" to refuse a change in its terms, and this will be the subject of one of three amendments tabled by the party at tomorrow's committee stage.

The other Labour amendments would effectively give Opposition parties the same rights as the Minister and Attorney General to consult tribunal chairmen on changing terms; and, where two or more tribunals are in existence simultaneously, would require one to pass relevant information to the other.

Fine Gael will table a single amendment to the Bill, giving the Oireachtas power to initiate changes through a resolution passed by both Houses.

The Government and Opposition may also clash on the wording of the changes, although there has been a narrowing in the difference between their positions adopted in the debate on the Rennicks payment to Mr Burke last week.

The joint Opposition motion called then for one of the tribunals to investigate policy decisions taken by Mr Burke between 1987 and 1992 "so as to ascertain whether any decision taken by Mr Burke or governments of which he was a member could have been influenced in any way by payments he or the Fianna Fail party received in that period".

In the Government's amendment to that motion, the emphasis was shifted to the motives of the person or persons making the payment. However, the Government has shifted its position since then, indicating that the payments would be investigated in the same way that the Moriarty tribunal is dealing with payments to Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Michael Lowry.