A CONSTITUTIONAL amendment published yesterday could pave the way for Oireachtas committees doing the work of tribunals investigating matters of public interest.
The amendment is to reverse the Supreme Court’s Abbeylara judgment halting an Oireachtas inquiry into the shooting dead of John Carthy at his home in Abbeylara, Co Longford, during a stand-off with gardaí in 2000.
The judgment, which followed a successful action taken by gardaí, meant no Oireachtas inquiry could be pursued if the good name of any citizen might be impugned.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin will introduce the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (Houses of the Oireachtas Inquiries) Bill 2011 in the Dáil on Thursday, with a September 22nd deadline for its passage through the Oireachtas.
The amendment will be voted on in a referendum on October 27th, the same day as the presidential election, the Dublin West byelection and a referendum on judicial pay.
Mr Howlin said yesterday that if the amendment was accepted, it would secure “effective and cost-efficient parliamentary scrutiny of issues of significant public importance”, leading to “more open, transparent and better government”.
The amendment would allow for Oireachtas inquiries into matters of “general public importance”.
Individuals could be investigated and findings made in respect of their conduct.
The Oireachtas would determine “the appropriate balance between the rights of persons and the public interest for the purposes of ensuring an effective inquiry into any matter”.
Mr Howlin said that since the Abbeylara judgment the Oireachtas had sought to restore to itself powers to hold proper inquiries.
“Every parliament in the world we have looked at has such powers and the Dáil and Seanad have been inhibited,” he added.
“When you look now at the financial collapse, it is incumbent on the Oireachtas itself to be able to dig deep and find out what lessons are to be learned from these sort of events in our history,” he said.
Ultimately, he added, natural justice had to prevail, but the Government wanted to have a cost-effective system which did not take years to conclude.
Mr Howlin said the legislation set out “high hurdles” for an Oireachtas committee to reach to ensure a careful and correct balance was struck between individual rights and the public good.
He believed, he said, that some tribunals would have been avoided if the amendment had been passed some years ago.
Mr Howlin also published detailed draft heads of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Powers of Inquiry) Bill 2011, detailing the proposed new system’s structure and operation.
Welcoming the Minister’s announcement, Fianna Fáil spokesman on public expenditure and reform Seán Fleming said it would ensure elected representatives would have appropriate powers to investigate matters in the public interest.
He said that fair procedures and justice would have to be guaranteed to all witnesses and people who were the subject of an inquiry.
There would also have to be a political balance in the membership of Oireachtas committees, he added.
