Despite amendments from the Government last night the Opposition is still set to oppose the referendum on judicial conduct.
Fine Gael and the Labour Party said they would oppose the referendum legislation which is due to be voted on in the Dail today and campaign against it if the Government goes ahead with its plans for a referendum in June.
The Opposition parties accu sed the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, of rushing the legislation. A Government spokesman insisted the referendum would go ahead as planned and retaliated by accusing the Opposition of "pure and blatant politicking".
He said Fine Gael, in particular, wanted debate on the issue to be prolonged so it could "regurgitate the O'Flaherty saga" in advance of an election.
In the Dail last night Mr O'Donoghue announced proposed amendments to the
Twenty-Second Amendment of the Constitution Bill, details of which have not yet been published. The requirement that at least 30 members of either the Dail or Seanad are needed to sign a motion would be reduced to 20, he said.
The Fine Gael justice spokesman, Mr Alan Shatter, had made the point, with which he said he agreed, that if a serious allegation was made against a judge, which a majority of either the Dail or the Seanad believed should be investigated, the public interest demanded that such an investigation occur.
Mr O'Donoghue refused to make any changes to the requirement that a two-thirds majority of either the Dail or Seanad would be required to impeach a judge.
The Minister said the Labour spokesman on justice, Mr Brendan Howlin, appeared to see nothing wrong in a situation where a judge would be removed following a debate "polarised along Government-opposition lines".
Mr Howlin said this was "not a proper way to handle a Constitution". "We will oppose it trenchantly. What it does is reverse accountability," he said.
Mr Shatter said it was clear the Government was "making this up as they go along".
Mr O'Donoghue said the Judicial Council to be established would have a conduct and ethics committee to deal with complaints against judges and it would be conferred with the powers necessary to do this.
The committee would have a membership of 12 people: eight judges, two members of the legal profession and two lay representatives. These could be nominated by the Government for a number of years or could be holders of particular offices, the Minister said.