Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

Fair enough, but in that explanation it outlines the upside and the downside. That is what I am attempting to confirm. The McKenna judgment ensures that the Government of the day, even though it has the right to initiate legislation leading to a constitutional referendum, cannot now use public funds to put forward that view actively. That is where the Referendum Commission steps in. It appears that the Minister will not only be under the scrutiny of these Houses in this regard but also under the scrutiny of the Referendum Commission, which I believe is a positive aspect of an open democracy. The Referendum Commission has done a very good job to date and undoubtedly if and when legislation comes before the Houses to abolish the Seanad, the commission will come into its own in ensuring that the people of Ireland have a fair and balanced approach to the workings of this House.

Will the Minister clarify, when this legislation is passed and, presumably, approved by the people in a referendum, what will happen the architecture already in place which appears to have served us relatively well, particularly where the Government has the right to appoint somebody to investigate matters of public interest, as it has done successfully previously? As we inherited practically all our parliamentary practices from the "mother of parliaments", it is striking that its system also provides for the government of the day to appoint judges, former judges or people of expertise to carry out inquiries, for example, the Chilcot inquiry. John Chilcot, whom I had the pleasure of knowing in his other role as the head of the Northern Ireland civil service during the Troubles, headed the inquiry into the Iraq war.

Will all that go by the board? In future, where matters of public interest arise, will that particular procedure not be activated by the current or any future Government? Will the Government simply decide it has no need for that system any more because the Houses now have the right to carry out these investigations? That raises all the issues Senator Mullen mentioned with regard to impartiality and independence. We are all prejudiced to some degree and that prejudice, be it for good or ill, is based on past experiences or knowledge. I remember the McCarthy investigations when I was a child, and Senator Mullen has also referred to them. That was an extreme example. In fact, we tend to look to the American democratic system as the most effective in terms of the inquiries that are regularly carried out by the members of Congress. They are open and transparent, and that is the American way of doing things. Generally, we have applauded that. They appear to have been able to investigate those who are involved in a particular subject to such an extent that a great deal of information emerges from the questioning and the inquisitorial nature of congressional committees. I presume the Minister is influenced to some degree by the American system of congressional committees of inquiry. In my opinion, that appears to influence a great deal of what is in this legislation.

Ultimately, the people will decide on this. Considering the most recent experience of politicians investigating themselves, which has already been referred to, we have not really done a very good job and the commentary outside the House on this legislation has focused on that. Where there have been internal inquiries carried out by politicians, they have not worked.