Tribunal plan may require special Act

Special legislation may be required to clear the way for the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Frederick Morris, to join the Flood tribunal later this year.

Mr Justice Morris and the President of the District Court, Judge Peter Smithwick, are widely tipped as new members of the tribunal. Another judge, Mr John F. Buckley of the Circuit Court, is also believed to have been approached about a move to Dublin Castle.

Last year, the Oireachtas passed a special Act to give Mr Justice Feargus Flood a full pension when he reached the retirement age for judges of 72 years in July 2000. Normally, 15 years' service would be required for a full pension, but Mr Justice Flood had spent only nine years on the Bench.

Mr Justice Morris, who will be 72 in November, has been a High Court judge since 1990 and president of the court since 1997. Thus, he is still four years short of qualifying for full pension of one-half of salary. Legal sources say they expect the Government will agree to a pension package similar to that arranged for Mr Justice Flood if he agrees to join the tribunal after his official retirement date.

As barristers, both Mr Justice Morris and Judge Smithwick had well-known Fianna Fail connections. The former's best-known case as a barrister was Dunne v Holles Street, in which he successfully represented William Dunne, who was brain-damaged at birth and was awarded more than £1 million after an appeal to the Supreme Court and a retrial.

The appointment in 1990 of Judge Smithwick (64) - a member of the prominent brewing family - as president of the District Court caused some controversy at the time. Fine Gael claimed it breached tradition and precedent in judicial appointments and caused "affront and resentment" among other justices. Mr Smithwick pointed out that he had 30 years' experience in practising in the courts. Although he had been a permanent member of the Bench for just three months before his appointment, he had held a temporary post for two years.

Mr Justice Flood, who is now 73 and is no longer technically a judge, is paid the equivalent of a High Court judge, or £115,991 a year. Last month, he asked the Government for two extra judges and a reserve to help him to handle the massive workload of the tribunal. The tribunal still had at least two years' work left to do, he estimated.

Mr Justice Flood was appointed to the tribunal in November 1997. At first, he was required to investigate a specific payment of at least £30,000 to the former minister, Mr Ray Burke, in 1989, but the tribunal's remit was later expanded to include investigations into all payments to Mr Burke and all allegations of corruption involving politicians or public officials.

Its investigations have proceeded more slowly than expected, and hearings into allegations concerning land rezoning in Dublin, the MMDS television transmission system and a payment to the former EU Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, have yet to begin.

If nothing else, the creation of new members will mean that a new colloquial name will have to be found for the "Flood tribunal". Officially though, its title remains "the tribunal of inquiry into certain planning matters".