An inquiry by a former senior civil servant into the recruitment of PR consultant Ms Monica Leech by the Department of the Environment should be finished in a month, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has said.
The Government's own investigation will run in parallel with a preliminary inquiry ordered last week by the State's independent ethics watchdog, the Standards in Public Office Commission.
The career of the Cabinet Minister at the centre of the controversy, the Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen, will be at grave risk if he is not completely exonerated by both inquiries. Ms Leech, a political supporter of Mr Cullen from his Waterford constituency, has earned €300,000 since the Department of the Environment hired her as a part-time consultant shortly after Mr Cullen was appointed Minister for the Environment in June 2002.
The Government will today check with the commission to make sure that the two investigations will not clash. "We don't want to create any problem for the Standards Commission," Mr Ahern said.
Meanwhile, an allegation that civil servants raised questions about Ms Leech's contract in mid-2002 was questioned in some political quarters last night. Usually, senior civil servants will make sure that a note containing their reservations about a proposed ministerial action is filed to ensure that they are not open to accusation later.
Asked about whether Department of the Environment officials had queried the Leech contract, the Taoiseach, speaking on Today FM, said: "That I am not aware of. It was the first time that I had heard that.
"We will get somebody senior. There are a number of good former civil servants that we could ask, depending on their availability and on whether they are prepared to do it."
Seeking a quick report, Mr Ahern said: "We don't want to create any problems for the Standards in Public Office Commission but I think that as on previous occasions they have to go into detail and it will take some time.
"This is really about two areas: the OPW [Office of Public Works] and it is in Minister Cullen's previous Department.
"The papers are there. I think it has been pretty well aired over the past number of weeks, so, hopefully, it won't take that long. There aren't that many people involved.
"It isn't like an area where there are hundreds of people involved. The arguments are fairly well ironed out. The contracts are there. The Cabinet rules are there."
Last night, the current Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche, said a "speedy" investigation by a former senior civil servant would discover "whether it was all done correctly, or not correctly. That will resolve it".
In a Dáil reply on December 9th, Mr Roche gave no indication there had been any problem between Environment officials and Mr Cullen before Ms Leech's temporary contract was agreed.
A note prepared for Mr Roche, but not read out by him due to lack of time, said Ms Leech was involved in the "finalisation and launch" of the National Spatial Strategy in late 2002.
