Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We had a lengthy discussion on this on Committee Stage, during which I tabled an amendment to delete the relevant provisions. I have refined my amendment so as to seek the deletion of one provision - namely, the one Deputy Joe Higgins has focused on. I refer to the all-encompassing provision that would allow the chairperson and chief executive to refuse to appear before a committee because the subject under discussion could “at a future time be the subject of proceedings before a court or tribunal in the State”. A commission of inquiry is not mentioned, which is interesting in itself.

The provision is far too broad. That an issue discussed and settled in court many years ago could be excluded from discussion at a meeting of an Oireachtas committee does not make any sense whatsoever. It makes no sense that an issue that arose at a tribunal in the past could not be brought up again. One could consider the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in this regard. If a committee wanted to investigate or re-examine practices arising from the Moriarty tribunal, for example, and determine whether the Department had learned the appropriate lessons and implemented the recommendations of the tribunal, it might not be able to do so because the provision in the Bill, if applied, could mean the chairperson and chief executive would not be required to give an account of any matter which is or has been or may at a future time be the subject of proceedings before a court or tribunal. They would say they simply could not talk about the matter.

It was not clear whether the matter of GSOC would be subject to a commission of inquiry or tribunal, and an issue arose as to whether the relevant committee had the right to ask individuals to appear before it. With regard to a court case or tribunal in the State, it could be many years before an issue could be discussed at a committee meeting. While there should be provisions to protect sub judiceproceedings, etc., the legislation proposed is far too broad. I hope the provision will be deleted.

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