Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)

As a result of recent Supreme Court judgments arising from the Abbeylara case and the knock-on effects of those judgments for the mini-CTC inquiry, it is clear that if parliamentary inquiries are to be effective, constitutional change is probably necessary. We therefore propose a constitutional amendment to allow the Dáil to inquire into and report on any exercise of the executive power of the State or on the administration of any of its public services.

We propose the establishment of a powerful new committee of investigations, oversight and petitions, bi-partisan in structure, and chaired by a member of the Opposition. The role of that committee would be to ensure consultation and collaboration between the Oireachtas and the Ombudsman, to receive parliamentary petitions from interested groups in the community seeking the redress of grievances connected with the public services——

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