The mess in Fás shows that the Public Accounts Committee must be given powers to initiate its own investigations, writes Brian Hunt
THE FÁS debacle shows how the constraints on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) means it cannot deal in a meaningful way with controversies which arise surrounding the expenditure of public monies.
The PAC is charged with monitoring public spending by government departments and State agencies. However, because of its standing orders, the PAC is only allowed to act on foot of a report prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General; it cannot investigate an issue on its own initiative.
Is it really acceptable that when we have a 24/7 news cycle, the one watchdog to monitor public expenditure has to stand by and wait for the CAG to call before it can step into the breach? This is why we have seen the issue of Fás expenses being championed by one Senator acting alone - leaving the PAC weighed-down by its restrictive terms of reference.
Accountability and transparency are buzzwords of our time, however, there is no public forum where controversies can be investigated in a timely way. Where an instance of the misspending of public monies comes to light, it can be raised in the Dáil and Seanad and the CAG may investigate and report. At the other end of the scale a commission of investigation or tribunal may be instigated. However, the gap between these needs to be bridged. Following the success of the Dirt inquiry in 1999, Oireachtas committees adopted a more investigative approach which came to an abrupt end following the decision of the Supreme Court in Maguire v Ardagh (2002) on the Oireachtas sub-committee investigating the shooting of John Carty in Abbeylara in 2000.
It is perhaps the case that the Supreme Court's decision has been given an overly restrictive interpretation. It is perfectly compatible with the Constitution, and also the terms of the Supreme Court decision, that elected representatives, such as those on the PAC, would be empowered to investigate and establish facts on their own initiative, such as in the Fás case.
As the Fás debacle has proven, the PAC it needs to be able to deal with controversies on a real-time basis. As of now the committee, through no fault of its own, has been shown to be toothless and redundant.
• Dr Brian Hunt is an expert on the drafting of legislation. He has worked for the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government, a division of the Attorney General's office, and is now head of public affairs with solicitors Mason Hayes+Curran