Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue has said he will present "detailed proposals" on Wednesday in response to the controversy over his expenses and that the views of the two main Opposition leaders will "inform" those proposals.
In a short statement this evening in response to comments by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore, Mr O'Donoghue said he will outline his proposals to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission at its meeting on Wednesday.
"The views of both the Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny TD and the Labour Party Leader Eamon Gilmore TD will inform the proposals the Ceann Comhairle will present to the Commission, the details of which are nearing completion," the statement concluded.
The leaders of the two main Opposition parties have been joined by the Green Party leader John Gormley today in calling for a resolution to controversy surrounding Mr O'Donoghue's foreign travel expenses.
Mr Gormley said if the existing structures, such as the Oireachtas Commission, were unable to deal with the issue, he would bring it up during negotiations with Fianna Fáil on a new programme for government.
“We shouldn’t personalise the issue. I believe that there have been problems with the expenses regime for years. It hasn’t been corrected by any of the regular parties who are presented on this Commission; my party is not represented on that Commission."
“It is time now that we deal with this issue. If it is not dealt with by the Commission and the other political parties, we hope to deal with it in the programme for Government,” the Minister for the Environment told reporters in Dublin this morning.
Mr O’Donoghue chairs the commission, which is responsible for running the Oireachtas.
Talks on a new programme for government between Fianna Fáil and the Green Party are due to resume today ahead of a special meeting of Green Party members next Saturday.
Earlier, the two main Opposition party leaders made their first major interventions in the controversy.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said last night Mr O’Donoghue may have to “consider his position”, while his Labour counterpart Eamon Gilmore called for a meeting of all party leaders to discuss the controversy.
Their interventions followed the release of figures at the weekend showing Mr O’Donoghue incurred costs of €90,000 in foreign travel since taking up office in June 2007.
Mr Kenny said he was instructing the three Fine Gael members of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission to request the Ceann Comhairle to reduce his staffing levels, remove his special adviser Dan Collins from his position and repay any costs incurred that did not directly relate to his office.
“If these are not addressed directly by the Ceann Comhairle and the Oireachtas Commission, the Ceann Comhairle should consider his position,” said Mr Kenny through his spokesman.
The commission, which is chaired by Mr O’Donoghue, runs the Oireachtas.
Speaking this morning, Mr Gilmore said there appeared to be "a pattern of extravagance" over the expenses, and that some of these were excessive.
The Labour leader said the independence of Mr O'Donoghue's office meant he was "not amenable" to across-the-floor questioning in the Dáil, was not in a position to appear before an Oireachtas committee, and was not amenable to the electorate as the Ceann Comhairle is automatically re-elected.
Mr Gilmore said on Morning Irelandthis was why he was calling for a meeting of the party leaders this week to discuss issue.
The Labour leader refused to call for the resignation of Mr O'Donoghue and said a meeting with the leaders and Mr O'Donoghue would give the Ceann Comhairle the opportunity "to explain some of this . . . and give his side of the story".
"But I certainly think it has to be done on a cross-party basis . . . it cannot be ignored," Mr Gilmore said, adding the situation was unacceptable to him and to taxpayers.
Questioned on the upcoming Greens meeting on the programme for Government, Mr Gilmore said his party was prepared for an election immediately, over the next few months or over a longer time frame.
"One of the things we discovered during the Lisbon referendum is this present Government is just hated now by the public, and they want them out of office as quickly as possible."
Separately, Cork East Fianna Fáil TD Ned O'Keeffe said it was unfair of the media to focus specifically on Mr O’Donoghue in relation to expenses as the system has been full of irregularities over the last 10 years.
“You cannot take John O’Donoghue in isolation and I think if you go back over the last 10 years and investigate all ministers you will find out that there was a lot of irregularities.
"John O’Donoghue is just being picked up by the media and by different people. And it might be a bit of jealousy against him because he does a very good job as Ceann Comhairle. I don’t think we should be coming down heavy on John O’Donoghue. We should be even handed with all Ministers across the board. We wouldn’t hear very much about this only for the climate in the economy anyway.”
Speaking to C103 FM's Cork Todayprogramme, Mr O'Keeffe said he had no interest in driving around in limousines when he held a ministerial portfolio even though that was the system in place for overseas visits.