Fine Gael fears that the Oireachtas authorities will vet and possibly censor leaflets being produced by political parties once it introduces new rules governing how such material is printed, according to party whip Bernard Durkan.
Mr Durkan is seeking a judicial review of the decision of the Oireachtas Commission to centralise the free printing services given to political parties rather than allow them to continue to run their own printing operations, as at present.
He says that he will also legally challenge the commission's decision effectively to bar TDs and senators from using their Oireachtas offices and other facilities in the course of election campaigns they are contesting.
The commission has decided on this course of action in response to the High Court decision on the eve of the 2002 general election that serving TDs, senators and MEPs must include in their spending totals the value of Oireachtas facilities used by them in their campaigns.
Mr Durkan said yesterday that the commission's action was a disproportionate response to the outcome of that case, taken by Fianna Fáil candidate Des Kelly. TDs and senators who were candidates could simply include the value of the Leinster House facilities they used in their declaration of election spending, he said. It was unnecessary "to lock us out of the Houses of the Oireachtas".
The commission's action was unfair given that ministers, ministers of state and the chairs of Oireachtas committees would not be put out of their offices. "Therefore, 66 per cent of Government TDs will be facilitated in one way or another in a way the opposition deputies will not be. Up to 85 per cent of opposition deputies will be disadvantaged."
Mr Durkan maintained that the commission was involved in "an attempt to requisition Fine Gael's printing facilities". It had intimated that the authorities would "vet material being printed and approve or disapprove of it".
He suggested that this could be similar to the situation in which the Oireachtas authorities disallowed certain parliamentary questions on the grounds that they were "deemed to be too aggressive or [ to] contain argument".
Mr Durkan, who is taking his legal action in a personal capacity, said yesterday that he had hired senior counsel to prepare his case. He hoped that it would be heard by the courts as soon as possible.
There was no comment from the Oireachtas Commission.