The Government is to rush emergency legislation through next week in relation to a number of public bodies in the health area.
The move follows advice from the Attorney General casting doubt on the legal status of 19 bodies set up under legislation dating from the 1960s.
But the Labour Party has claimed other sections of the emergency legislation dealing with co-location are not urgent matters.
A spokesman for Minister for Health Mary Harney said this evening that last October the Attorney General had advised that the 19 bodies, including the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and Beaumont and St James's hospitals, had their legal basis in legislation which might now be found unconstitutional.
He told the Government that the legal vulnerability should be tackled urgently.
Ms Harney's spokesman said the six-week delay in bringing forward the emergency legislation was due to the complexity of the drafting issues involved.
But the Labour party has objected to a section of the emergency legislation which seeks to copperfasten the legal capacity for St James's and Beaumont to enter co-location agreements.
Liz McManus claimed this evening that whatever about the other issues, there was no urgency about the co-location implications.
