There was an angry response from Opposition leaders when the Minister for the Marine said it would not be necessary to introduce legislation covering prisoner releases under the Belfast Agreement.

Dr Woods, who was deputising for the Taoiseach on the Order of Business, said Mr Ahern proposed to write to party leaders briefing them on the issue.

The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said the Republic was ruled by law and prisoners could not be released on the basis of administrative discretion.

Dr Woods said he would not like the impression to go out from the Dail that any actions of the Government would be based on anything other than legislation. "It would be very wrong of the party leaders to start this kind of acting at this stage."

Earlier, the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said he wished to place on record his "serious concern" about the Government's action. "It would appear that a decision, in effect, has been taken."

He asked Dr Woods if the Government had decided it would not bring forward legislation between now and the end of June, notwithstanding any commitments into which the Irish public had entered in the referendum.

The Minister replied that the matter was a sensitive one, and the Taoiseach would write very fully to the party leaders and brief them in a comprehensive way. The best approach for Opposition leaders was to wait until then.

Mr Quinn asked: "Do I take it that the Government has decided, as of now, not to bring forward legislation?" Dr Woods replied that all the advice at the moment was that it would not be necessary to introduce further legislation and that there would be a basis in legislation in the Republic for the implementation of the agreement. The Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said it was "quite appalling" that there would be no legislation, given that the people had been asked to give their opinion in a referendum and 95 per cent of them had supported the agreement.