Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I cannot understand how the fact that something has been before the courts could mean it would be contrary to public policy, or wrong in any way, for an Oireachtas committee to be allowed to ask the chairperson of the commission, as the official responsible and accountable for the general administration of the commission, to explain how it happened that money was spent and somebody was bullied out of his or her job or wrongly dismissed, how High Court litigation arose from those events, how that litigation was lost and what the chairperson proposes to do about it. Such a chairperson will be able to say that he or she is not obliged under the statute to say anything to the Oireachtas committee about the maladministration that happened on his or her watch and during his or her tenure as chairperson, and the associated decisions for which he or she was responsible. That person will be able to avoid answering questions about something that was part of the general administration of the commission on the basis that the matter has been dealt with by the court. It is not right that section 22(3)(a) will mean that the chairperson's personal accountability and responsibility for these matters will be off limits, and that nobody will be able to ask anything further about it. This will not be confined to cases in which a substantive court decision has been made. If an officer who brings a case for unfair dismissal, bullying, harassment or whatever goes on in so many of these cases nowadays is paid off with substantial damages, that matter will be deemed to have been before the courts and to have been settled. Nobody will be able to find out about such a case because no evidence will have been given. If the chairperson of the commission comes before the Oireachtas committee, he or she will be able to refuse to answer questions about that case on the basis that it was before the courts at one stage and was settled confidentially. The chairperson would have no responsibility to give answers to the Oireachtas about what happened.