Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

For all the straw men that Senator Mullen puts up, the net issue is simply that he does not want parliamentary inquiry. I did not hear his reasoning for the belief that Ireland, uniquely, should not have such inquiry. God knows the experience of the past decade and the types of activity we had across the public sphere indicate that this country needs parliamentary inquiry.

The Senator is wrong in arguing that the implication of introducing the legislation is that the Abbeylara judgment was wrong. The decision by the courts was an interpretation of the Constitution, which is the absolute prerogative and right of the courts to determine. They saw objectively, factually and accurately that there was no inherent power to conduct inquiries. The Government has stated it will redress and fix that and that is the job of the Legislature. It is not a criticism of the judgment. The courts tell us all the time that we must legislate to fix loopholes. The problem is that we do not normally proceed with sufficient alacrity to fix such loopholes. It is a perverse view that this enactment is a criticism of the court ruling in the Abbeylara case.

As I have stated repeatedly, the proposal does not in any way deny access to the courts to the general public or anyone involved in an inquiry. The courts will retain oversight in respect of anybody who is aggrieved by the decision subsection (4) would give to the Houses of the Oireachtas to make a discernment, balancing the principles of fair procedure and the public interest. Parliament needs to do this and if it does not get it right, the matter can be determined elsewhere.

Senator Mullen asked why we would choose this legislation as the first issue to address. It is an important issue because it strengthens the hand of Parliament and the earlier the Oireachtas strengthens its hand, the better as it will allow us to do all the other things we need to do in committees and investigations. Matters could arise tomorrow or the next day which would require investigation in the House but we are currently precluded from conducting such investigations. The Senator argued that this indicates we do not have any interest in other matters.