Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has urged the Attorney General to ensure that the public interest is protected in the legal proceedings relating to the companies in Liam Carroll's Zoe development group.
A second attempt by the companies to seek the appointment of an examiner will be heard by the High Court next Tuesday.
The group has bank debts of €1.27 billion, and claims it will collapse if it does not succeed in having an examiner appointed.
Mr Gilmore said the outcome of this case will have significant potential implications for taxpayers. He said lawyers for the Zoe group have argued that valuations of its properties should remain confidential.
"However, without this sort of information, we will have no way of knowing whether the proposed level of discount the Government intends to offer to the banks on properties under the proposed National Asset Management Agency (Nama) legislation is an appropriate one," he said.
Mr Gilmore said the Attorney General should apply to the court for the right to nominate lawyers to ensure that the public interest is protected in the proceedings.
The court agreed last Friday to give companies in the group a second chance to seek the appointment of an examiner. Outlining the reasons, Mr Justice John Cooke said yesterday there were good grounds to allow a second petition.
The companies are seeking the appointment of an examiner after ACCBank, owned by Dutch group Rabobank, sought repayment of €136 million in debts.
The establishment of Nama is likely to top the agenda at tomorrow's cabinet meeting.
Mr Gilmore said the mission statement of the Office of the Attorney General says that the AG may exercise a role as representative of the public for assertion or defence of public rights other than in the context of criminal prosections.
"Surely this is a case that is crying out for such a role to played by the Attorney General," he said
"I am not suggesting that the Attorney General personally or any of his staff should be directly involved in proceedings.
The Attorney General is the principal author of the Nama Bill and would be compromised. What I envisage is the
Attorney General seeking the permission of the court to appoint an independent Senior Counsel to ensure that the public interest is upheld in proceedings," he said.
"I accept that the making such an application we would be a new departure. However, the crisis in which we now find ourselves in unprecedented in its scope and its potential implications for Irish taxpayers.
"It is, of course, possible that the High Court might not agree to such an application but there is, at least, an arguable case to be made to the Court," Mr Gilmore said.