Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform

Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage

6:55 pm

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand the test of the reasonable person. As I said earlier, the complication arises when it is an inquiry into a Member of the Oireachtas. That is where, in my view, it gets a bit messy. We operate within an adversarial system and there are all sorts of things said in the cut and thrust of political debate. How can the Minister assure us that this sense of institutional or party political bias is adequately catered for in the provisions? Arguably, in the minds of reasonable people, politicians investigating another politician in and of itself would perhaps sound alarm bells. I have raised this concern before.

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