A bitter battle has been waged between two representatives to the Convention on the Forum on Europe and the Department of Finance for eight months over the lack of secretarial and advisory back-up.
Up to four weeks ago, the Department was refusing to pay for two people hired by former Taoiseach, Mr John Bruton, and the president of the Labour Party, Mr Proinsias de Rossa.
The highly influential Convention, set up last February, is preparing a fundamental reform of the European Union that could lead to the adoption of a new EU treaty after 2004.
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Mr De Rossa said that he had warned the Government that he would quit. "I told them that I could not continue to do my job effectively," he said.
While Mr Bruton and Mr De Rossa have railed about the lack of resources, the Government's own Convention representative, former EU Commissioner, Mr Ray MacSharry uses Department of Foreign Affairs staff.
The row began shortly after Mr de Rossa and Mr Bruton, along with alternate members, Mr John Gormley and Mr Martin Cullen, were appointed to represent the Oireachtas.
Under the financial rules, the Oireachtas is unable to sanction spending unless it is cleared by the Department of Finance.
However, the Department of Finance said the bills should be paid by the Department of Foreign Affairs. However, Foreign Affairs said it was Oireachtas business. For months, Mr de Rossa and Mr Bruton argued with Finance over the issue.
At one point, both men demanded the intervention of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who, it is understood, communicated with the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy over the dispute.
"There is no doubt but that some people in Finance behaved very badly about all of this," one source close to the events told The Irish Times yesterday.
Up to recently, Mr Bruton had one employee helping two days per week with the mountainous workload created by the Convention. She charged €250 a day, including travel and accommodation bills. Despite Mr Ahern's intervention, the Department of Finance remained obdurate. "Recently, they were refusing to pay a €20,000 expenses bill from the staff," said one source.
Mr Bruton has now been offered the assistance of a Commission official on secondment. The Department of Finance has agreed to meet that person's expenses.
But Mr De Rossa's staffer is still facing restrictions: "He can work for me during plenary sessions of the Convention, but not during the Convention's working groups. It makes no sense.
"They are not going to get adequate democratic scrutiny by elected representatives in European affairs unless they give adequate back-up," said Mr De Rossa.
In a statement last February, the Taoiseach said it was the job of Ireland's representatives to the Convention to keep Irish voters informed of developments.
"I believe the Government and Oireachtas representatives will do Ireland proud in the high quality of the contribution they will make to the work of the Convention," he then declared.
In stark contrast to the difficulties facing the Oireachtas' representatives, the German Bundestag delegation has five senior civil servants, along with secretarial back-up, said the Convention's spokesperson, Mr Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut.
