The Green Party is to push for significant changes to legislation that would give the Government power to suspend or dissolve tribunals of inquiry, including the Mahon tribunal investigating Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's finances, it has emerged.
The Tribunals of Inquiry Bill, 2005 was put forward by the then minister for justice Michael McDowell, but was withdrawn last autumn in the face of Opposition attack.
The newly-appointed Cabinet, including the two Green Ministers, John Gormley and Eamon Ryan, agreed last week to restore the tribunal legislation to the Dáil's agenda.
However, the Green Party last night said its support for the return of the legislation to the Dáil's order paper did not mean that it supported all of the legislation's existing terms.
Under the legislation, the Government "for stated reasons and following a resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas, will be able to suspend or dissolve a tribunal".
Three months after its establishment, a tribunal would be required to outline how much it believes its work will cost, and how long it will last, and this statement to the Oireachtas will have to be amended subsequently if any overruns appear.
Curbs would also be imposed on the rights of those called before tribunals to have legal representation and to have it paid for subsequently by the State, under Mr McDowell's original proposals.
"A relevant person must apply for representation and the tribunal will only grant the application where the person's legal or constitutional rights are likely to be significantly affected by the proceedings.
"The tribunal will state its opinion as to the numbers of the representation to be retained by a person that it will certify as being recoverable from the State," the Bill says.
Former Green TD, Dan Boyle, said the programme for government made it clear that legislation governing reform of tribunals would be reviewed before it would be put through both Houses of the Oireachtas.
However, the programme for government's wording is somewhat different, since it said the parties had agreed "to implement comprehensive reform of the legislation governing tribunals of inquiry so that all future tribunals operate in accordance with modern and efficient management practices, with focused terms of reference, and in a manner which ensures that the costs and duration of tribunals are known and controlled".
Objecting to the return of the legislation, Labour TD, Joan Burton said Mr McDowell had published the Bill in November, 2005 but did nothing with it until October, 2006.
"Then, in the immediate aftermath of the disclosure that the Mahon tribunal was investigating a range of payments received by the Taoiseach from wealthy businessmen when he was minister for finance in 1994, [Mr McDowell] decided that the Bill was urgent and should be taken."
However, Mr McDowell was forced to back down in the face of strong objections from Labour and the Greens.
Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe said: "I assume that we will have the opportunity to amend it. Nobody wants tribunals to run forever, but I think it would be foolhardy to jump in and call tribunals to a halt at this stage."
