Dr. David Kenny:

We have written on this extensively. We maintain there is at least a significant doubt about any legal advice to the effect that remote hearings are unconstitutional. Essentially, three arguments have been made that the Constitution requires a physical place for the Dáil to meet, that privilege cannot apply to a virtual hearing room and that presence in voting means physically present. We maintain there is no standing interpretation from the superior courts of the Constitution to say that is necessarily true. We argue that it is quite possible to take a purposive reading of the Constitution, which is in fact rather flexible in terms of the Legislature meeting in other places, to say that virtual meeting rooms or some sort of hybrid sitting of the House would be entirely acceptable.

We believe it would be worthwhile for the Houses to pursue that course. If people wanted to take a constitutional challenge on that basis, then that should be done if it would allow the House to resume full and proper oversight.