The Government is proposing that the financing of Mr Charles Haughey's lifestyle will be the central theme of a new tribunal of inquiry. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will suggest to Opposition leaders in the next couple of days that the "money trail" unearthed by the McCracken tribunal and questions raised about the Ansbacher Deposits, Mr Haughey and Mr Michael Lowry should comprise the terms of reference for the second judicial inquiry.
In the event of new donors being identified Mr Ahern will also propose that the new tribunal should investigate if they benefited from any government decisions taken by Mr Haughey or Mr Lowry.
The Cabinet, which came close to finalising the terms of reference at its meeting yesterday is excluding the £30,000 donation made by a builder in 1989 to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Burke, from the remit of the proposed inquiry. Government sources, who were circumspect on this issue, would only confirm that "no decision was taken to include Mr Burke".
For the second week in succession Mr Burke absented himself from the Cabinet room during these discussions in accordance with Cabinet rules on possible conflict of interest.
The Government also decided to reverse its earlier decision to postpone the holding of a referendum to relax the rule on Cabinet confidentiality. It is now proposed to introduce the Seventeenth Amendment of the Constitution (No 2) Bill, prepared by the previous Coalition, when the Dail meets next Wednesday, to recall the Senate next week and to hold the referendum with the presidential election on October 30th.
The Bill, in essence, could be required to facilitate the work of the new tribunal. It would relax the absolute obligation imposed on ministers in a Supreme Court judgment during the Beef tribunal in 1992 not to disclose the content of government discussions. The High Court would be allowed to determine where disclosure should be made in the "overriding public interest".
Without announcing the formal terms of reference for the new inquiry, the Taoiseach, in a statement after yesterday's meeting, said the Government was united in its determination to investigate all outstanding issues of concern arising from the excellent report of the McCracken tribunal. "My sole concern at this stage", Mr Ahern stated, "is to get the terms of reference of the tribunal right, so that it can resolve, as far as possible, any remaining anxieties with regard to the conduct of ministerial office in recent times".
Some fine-tuning will be carried out by officials of the Attorney General's office and the Taoiseach's office in coming days of the terms of reference now being proposed by the Government. It is intended, for example, to follow the McCracken precedent in the new tribunal, enabling it to carry out an investigative role at the outset before conducting public hearings.
Mr Ahern will initiate discussions on the terms of reference with Opposition party leaders today with the aim of having the draft terms laid before the whips' meeting tomorrow. The Government is still hoping that all-party agreement can be reached on the remit of the tribunal.
By pursuing the question of other possible donors to the former Taoiseach, Mr Haughey, prior to investigating the possible beneficiaries of government decisions, the Government believes that it can set a reasonable limit to the scope of the new inquiry. It has set no time limit, however, on the period to be investigated, nor has it totally ruled out the possibility of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Burke, making a statement to the Dail on the £30,000 donation he received in 1989.
