Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I think there must be balance in all of this. There will be issues in the future where people's good names are at risk and where it is right and proper for them to have legal advisers on hand but there will be cases where not everybody needs to be "lawyered up", to use the American phrase, for every issue all the time. If the very simple objective is to get to the truth and tell the truth, the vast majority of inquiries can be held expeditiously and well. Senator Clune referred to her experience as a member of the Committee of Public Accounts. Senator Thomas Byrne criticised the process of taking all Stages together, but I will leave that to the House to decide. He also spoke at length on the objective bias issue. Those involved in an inquiry cannot make utterances during the course of the inquiry which would prejudice the independence of their decision making. It will be a discipline for those involved in any inquiry in the future to stay schtum until the inquiry is over. This will evolve in time as we have more experience with the process. To reiterate the interjection of Senator Bacik, there is no role to determine criminal guilt in any inquiry under the separation of powers.

I indicated that it is important that members of the committee many not make public comment that might appear to prejudge specific evidence before the committee of inquiry. Indications of a view being held by a committee member while the hearing is proceeding would be contrary to the normal accepted principles of fairness. The courts have developed legals tests for the objective or individual bias issue and I expect these will be applied too in the cases of Oireachtas committees of inquiry. It is fair to say that these tests do not support the view that any public representative in the Oireachtas who has expressed his or her opinion on the cause of the banking crisis would necessarily be precluded from participation in the inquiry. It would certainly not be the case that the Oireachtas could not hold an inquiry into the banking crises on account of public comments of Members. One can have a general view of banking without prejudicing any individual inquiry and hearing evidence on it. This can be done.

I found Senator Mullen's contribution extraordinary.