Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I welcome the Minister to the House and apologise to him for not being here for the earlier part of his speech. I appreciate, as I am sure do all Senators, the Minister's work in the past and the risks he and his colleague, former Deputy and now MEP, Mr. Jim Higgins, have taken in terms of investigation and bolstering the role of Oireachtas Members in conducting investigations.

I support the amendment, the purpose of which is to ensure dynamic and effective parliamentary inquiries. As stated by the Minister in the Dáil, it is also about rebalancing powers of the Legislature against powers of the Executive. The Minister has long been a critic of the over-dominance of the Legislature by the Executive. I agree entirely that it is unhealthy in any democracy for the Executive to have too much power. It is important we give our Legislature robust powers, including powers of inquiry.

Senator van Turnhout rightly referred to the recommendation of the Joint Committee on the Constitution in its fifth report, published earlier this year and which specifically recommends that, following the Abbeylara judgment of the Supreme Court, an amendment should be introduced to expressly provide the Oireachtas to carry out inquiries. The Supreme Court found, in the Abbeylara judgment, that any implicit powers of the Oireachtas did not extend to making findings of fact concerning individual culpability of non-members of the Oireachtas which involved damage to the good name of such individuals. It was necessary to introduce this amendment.

While Senator O'Brien stated that this legislation is being in some way rushed, I do not believe that is fair. The Joint Committee on the Constitution did a great deal of work on this issue, which has been a matter of public debate for some time. Nine years have passed since the Supreme Court issued its judgment and 11 years have passed since the tragic shooting of John Carthy in Abbeylara. It was necessary to introduce this amendment early in the lifetime of this Oireachtas in order to make it a relevant and effective body and to give us, as a Parliament, powers to carry out investigations. I believe in the right of parliaments to make inquiries.

As it happens, I am not sure the Abbeylara inquiry was the appropriate type of inquiry for us to launch. At that point, concerns were raised about the effectiveness or relevance of the Garda Síochána Complaints Board, which predated the Garda Síochána Ombudsman mechanism, which is the clear mechanism for investigating such shootings. Like other speakers in the Dáil and this House, I extend sympathy to the family of John Carty. A question is raised as to whether it was the appropriate type of inquiry.

More appropriately - others have spoken about this - the far more obvious type of inquiry which needs to be undertaken, assuming the referendum is passed early in the term of the Oireachtas, is an inquiry into how the bank guarantee came to be passed. What were the events of that fateful night in late September 2008 about which, despite the volumes which have been written, we are still unclear? The Labour Party voted against the bank guarantee and we were the only party to do so. At the time I was an Independent Senator, and I was the only Independent Senator to vote against it. The Labour Party had very clear reasons for voting against it, which have been vindicated since. It would be important to see where the root of the bank guarantee came from and it would be an ideal theme for an inquiry.

To speak briefly about parliamentary inquiries, having seen committees in action as a member of various committees in the previous session and this one, the committee system can show parliamentary inquiries at their best where there is forensic questioning by a small number of well-informed Deputies and Senators who are investigating and asking questions of individuals or representatives. However, at their worst committees can be terrible talking shops and hot air fora, and a great deal of waffle can be spoken. It is important to keep committees tight in general and to keep their powers focused.