Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)

I hope that the Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, will be the good guys and will do what is right to strengthen parliamentary democracy. However, I have grave misgivings about the proposed 30th amendment of the Constitution and the more I read about it, the more those misgivings intensify. I believe we are moving too quickly, without sufficient regard for what is involved and further time to examine the implications.

I have a number of questions. Does this Parliament have an unfettered right to inquire into any matter? Who decides which matter is to be subject to such inquiry and who decides what is of general public importance? Who decides which person's conduct will be investigated and, importantly, how will the House or Houses determine the appropriate balance between the rights of the person and the public interest to ensure that the inquiry is effective?

While not questioning the integrity of any Member of this House or the Seanad, my essential misgiving is how we can ensure an unbiased approach in an inquiry when the composition of our committees is determined by the political parties in Government. Members of parties have the party agenda and I fear that will be brought to the committees of inquiry. We are told that members of Oireachtas committees of inquiry would be required to behave impartially in respect of the matters which are the subject of the inquiry. How can that be assured, and what will happen if they do not behave impartially? Will that lead to another committee of inquiry or to a legal case and costs?

On the notion of no bias, be it institutional bias or objective bias, we are told that strong and robust procedures and protocols for the conduct of inquiries will have to be put in place. If a member of the committee of inquiry is known to have particularly strong views on the matter or individual being investigated, if they have written in the media, spoken to the media or are on record in that regard, how can that person be expected to approach the matter or the individual being investigated in an unbiased way? They would have to be particularly strong-minded and have tons of integrity to bring a clear, unbiased mind and approach to the investigations. The majority of Supreme Court judges rejected the assertion in the Abbeylara case that an inquiry by the Oireachtas must, by its nature, be biased, but I do not share their confidence.

The concept of a matter of general public importance is rather vague and could be open to abuse. Who will decide what warrants individual investigation? How can this be protected from vested interests either in deciding to investigate or deciding not to investigate? To ensure an unbiased approach, perhaps when a committee of inquiry is to be established the members of the committee should be drawn at random from among the Members of both Houses of the Oireachtas, or there could be a very clearly defined system of declarations of interest, with the possibility of a person recusing themselves or somebody having the authority to have that person recused.

Turning to the adjudicatory findings of fact, in the Abbeylara case the Supreme Court's concern was that the committee of inquiry was empowered under its terms of reference to make findings of fact which potentially impacted on the reputation and good name of individuals. The findings would be considered adjudicatory, meaning that although the findings had no legal effect, they could impugn the good name and reputation of an individual. The dilemma is clear: why set up a committee of inquiry if it cannot lead somewhere other than to establish facts yet if we want it to lead somewhere, it is almost approaching a court of law? Is there a danger that these committees could interfere with what should be matters for the courts? Instead of a Dáil committee investigating an individual or matter, this should be addressed through the legal system.

I listened to the proceedings yesterday of the committee dealing with the banking sector. What exactly was achieved, and will anything more be achieved under the new system? There are two significant examples from history and literature of committees which totally over-stepped the mark, Salem and the McCarthy committee. The House Un-American Activities Committee established by the US House of Representatives certainly showed the flaws of this type of inquiry and the abuse of power it could entail, leading to many personal tragedies. In the Salem Witch Trials, rather tellingly, John Proctor chose death rather than lose his good name. In his final speech in that play he said that his good name was all that he had left.

I accept what is proposed sounds fine in theory - Oireachtas inquiries held in a manner respecting fair procedures with well defined and tightly framed terms of reference and so forth. However, if we are to conduct such inquiries, they must make a difference and bring about change in a fair and unbiased way. I am not convinced that what is proposed in this legislation will achieve that.

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