Politicians are determined to secure the power to investigate controversial issues despite yesterday's court setback, reports Mark Brennock, Political Correspondent
There will be a tribunal of inquiry into the Abbeylara killing of John Carthy. Politicians of all parties will work together to secure the powers of Oireachtas committees. Rarely has there been such consensus and swift action from the political establishment.
Parliamentary inquiries have given TDs and senators a mechanism to put themselves at the centre of issues of public controversy, and they are now determined to make them a permanent feature of the political landscape.
Government and Opposition therefore reacted immediately to yesterday's Supreme Court decision that the Oireachtas was not entitled to continue its inquiry into the events leading up to the shooting dead by gardaí of John Carthy at Abbeylara, Co Longford. They said they would consider legislation, if that would regularise the situation, or a constitutional amendment if necessary. Whatever they did, said Government Chief Whip Mr Seamus Brennan, they would "seek to restore some appropriate power and investigative authority to the Oireachtas and its committee system".
Members of the Oireachtas have become frustrated in recent years as power and attention have slipped away from parliament. More and more decisions of importance have emerged not from the Dáil and Seanad but from the courts, tribunals, Brussels, foreign boardrooms and social partnership talks. The Government regularly announces major political developments at glitzy press conferences before communicating them to the Dáil.
For TDs and senators, parliamentary inquiries have been an enormous success. They have allowed politicians move to the centre of investigation of matters of controversy. They grilled bankers about the DIRT tax scandal, and CIÉ executives over the cost overrun on the mini-CTC signalling system.
But it was when they sought to grill gardaí over the shooting dead of John Carthy in Abbeylara that the High Court shouted stop. Last year's High Court ruling appeared to suggest that not only the Abbeylara inquiry but also the others, including the DIRT inquiry, were legally questionable.
At first glance, yesterday's Supreme Court judgment seems to be more limited in its restriction on Oireachtas inquiries. It has not ruled against the Oireachtas holding inquiries, merely saying that the way the Abbeylara inquiry was being conducted was impermissible.
Mrs Justice Susan Denham said the Oireachtas could not make findings in relation to the Abbeylara incident "capable of leading to adverse findings of fact and conclusions (including a finding of unlawful killing) as to the personal culpability of an individual not a member of the Oireachtas so as to impugn his or her good name."
The ruling leaves deputies and senators in the odd position whereby they could, for example, make unproven allegations against individuals under parliamentary privilege without citing evidence, but cannot make findings of fact adverse to a non-member of the Oireachtas after hearing and assessing evidence, if those findings would suggest personal culpability.
The Supreme Court made a number of criticisms about how the Abbeylara inquiry was to operate, how procedures were changed leaving those to appear before it confused as to the position. Oireachtas inquiries are a new beast, and politicians will have to work to establish a clear template as to how they will operate in the future. As well as defining clearly their powers to compel witnesses to attend and to demand the production of documents, they will have to define what their purpose is. At the heart of this is the extent to which they can make findings suggesting that people outside the Oireachtas are guilty of wrongdoing.
How the Oireachtas proposes to regularise the situation - through legislation or constitutional amendment - will not become clear until the next Dáil. But the Minister for Justice moved quickly yesterday to confirm that a full tribunal of inquiry would now investigate the Abbeylara affair.
He is to talk to the main party whips next week, and a motion to set up a tribunal could be put to the Oireachtas before the Dáil is dissolved. The Abbeylara case will therefore be fully investigated, albeit at greater length and expense.