The Dáil is expected to unite today around a call on disgraced Dublin West TD Mr Liam Lawlor to resign his seat for failing to co-operate with the Flood tribunal. Meanwhile, an effort will be made to change the Dáil's rules to ensure deputies who refuse to obey instructions from tribunals can be suspended for up to 30 days without pay.
The wording for today's motion was agreed following a meeting yesterday morning between the Government Chief Whip, Mr Séamus Brennan and party whips.
The Government successfully insisted that the motion had to seek Mr Lawlor's voluntary resignation. "But the bottom line is the same. It is a call for his resignation," Mr Brennan said.
Fine Gael dropped its demand that the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, should arrange to have the jailed deputy in the Dáil for the 50-minute debate.
Labour Party whip Mr Emmet Stagg said: "It is probably a better motion now, since it does not give the impression that we could make him resign." The motion notes the January 30th, 2001 Dáil motion which called on Mr Lawlor to "voluntarily resign" his seat unless he "fully met" his obligations.
Dáil Éireann "now notes and deplores the deputy's continued failure to provide the co-operation sought by the tribunal, which was established by the unanimous decision of Dáil Éireann, and regards such failure as confirmation that his membership of Dáil Éireann is untenable and is of the opinion that he should accordingly voluntarily resign his Dáil membership." The text notes Mr Lawlor's letter to party whips on Tuesday in which he objected strongly to the debate taking place in his absence.
It is signed by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, the Leader of Fine Gael, Mr Noonan, the Leader of the Labour Party, Mr Quinn, the Tánaiste and leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ms Harney, and Green Party leader Mr Sargent.
Meanwhile, the Dáil's Members' Interests Committee is expected to agree today that the Dáil's standing orders should be changed so TDs can be penalised for refusing to co-operate with tribunals.
The Standards in Public Office Act, which came into force late last year, allows for stiff penalties for deputies who fail properly to declare their interests.
The Members' Interests Committee drafted a code of conduct backed by penalties, but the Government has not yet acted to bring it into force. It decided that a 30-day suspension, without pay, is the maximum the Dáil could impose on one of its own members without falling foul of the Constitution.
