Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Constitution states that the President shall not be answerable to either House of the Oireachtas or to any court for the exercise and performance of the powers and functions of his office or for any act done or purporting to be done by him in the exercise or performance of these powers and functions. It is clear that it does not say that the President is not answerable to the Oireachtas under any circumstances. It says he or she is not answerable for the exercise and performance of the powers and functions which are specifically mentioned in the relevant article in the Constitution. My point is that it was nonsense for anyone to say examining spending from the Central Fund by the Áras would be unconstitutional. Why then did the likes of Deputies Micheál Martin, Catherine Murphy and Alan Kelly wade in to defend the Government's attempts to prevent this scrutiny on the grounds that it might interfere with the ongoing election? Surely, that is the point. Surely, voters have a right to know in advance of an election. One can imagine what would happen if the Committee of Public Accounts suspended all scrutiny by the Fine Gael-led Government in the run up to the next general election on the grounds that it might impact on the result. Fianna Fáil and Labour would jump up and down in indignation about such a conspiracy.

What we saw last week was political theatre and hypocrisy. There is almost universal agreement that the Presidency should be made subject to freedom of information legislation. All parties in the Dáil are on record as supporting that. If the Government and Opposition leaders consider it unconstitutional for the Committee of Public Accounts to probe spending in the Áras, they must consider that any attempt by the Oireachtas to bring the Áras within the remit of freedom of information would also be unconstitutional. Why have they not made that point before now? The simple reason is that no one really believes this line about unconstitutionality. It was cooked up at the last minute because of unease regarding details of Áras spending in the run up to the election, which the political class has already done its best to stitch up in favour of the incumbent.