Two Ministers responsible for restrictions on the Freedom of Information Act will today head for Cheltenham's National Hunt Festival - even though Fine Gael has refused to agree to their absence from the Dáil.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, and the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Tom Parlon, will miss key debates on the amending legislation in the Seanad and the Dáil.
Fine Gael Whip, Kildare North TD, Mr Bernard Durkan said Fine Gael has refused to grant pairs to any Ministers absent from the Dáil "unless they are on official business, and not on a jolly".
The controversial changes to the FOI Act will be debated at Committee Stage in the Seanad today.
The Labour Party's motion seeking a year delay in changes to the Act will be debated today and tomorrow.
The absence of the two Ministers from Wednesday's night vote will not endanger the Government's arithmetic, though Fine Gael, as the main Opposition party, has rarely refused Government requests for pairs in the past.
Mr Durkan told The Irish Times: "I have received a number of requests for pairs.
"None of them will be agreed to unless I get confirmation that they are on official Government business.
"This means that they must be meeting their ministerial counterparts, and not just going off for St Patrick's Day where they will swan about for a few days," he declared.
Last night, the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said the absence of Mr McCreevy and Mr Parlon from the Dáil "illustrates the contempt of Fianna Fáil and the PDs for the Oireachtas".
"This is no accident or coincidence. The decision of Ministers McCreevy and Parlon to absent themselves this week is a two-fingered gesture from Fianna Fáil and the PDs to the Oireachtas," said Mr Rabbitte.
He went on: "We are now well used to Ministers taking the week off as a result of St Patrick's Day. But now it appears that many of them want to take a week off for Cheltenham as well.
"It is probably true to say that all governments that spend a long time in office lose touch with the public and lose touch with reality," he told a party meeting in Crumlin in Dublin.
"Fianna Fáil has now been in office for so long - 16 years with the exception of the two and a half year period of the Rainbow government - that it does not even bother to disguise its contempt for the Oireachtas and for the public."
The changes to the Freedom of Information Act are "clearly an attempt to reverse the whole trend of the past decade towards greater openness and accountability in Irish governance", said Mr Rabbitte.
"The Act was originally introduced by the Rainbow government specifically to reassure the public that the sort of secrecy, unaccountability and low standards that were the hallmark of the Haughey era would never again occur," said the Labour leader.
The FOI legislation changes were sparked by a report from five top civil servants, including the secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach, Mr Dermot McCarthy.
The civil servants have been summoned to a meeting on Wednesday of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service to explain their recommendations.