MINISTER FOR Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin has defended the decision to hold new Oireachtas investigations in private, saying they will not resemble “star chambers”.
Mr Howlin was addressing the newly formed Investigations, Oversight and Petitions Committee, which was established on foot of a commitment in the programme for government to amend the Constitution to give Dáil committees full powers of investigation.
He said the committee would have a “pivotal role” in the new inquiry process, which is subject to the electorate’s approval of a constitutional amendment on new powers for parliamentary committees in the referendum to take place on October 27th, the same day as the presidential election as well as a referendum on judges’ pay.
Committee chairman Peadar Tóibín of Sinn Féin suggested the new inquiries should be held in public. “Would it not be better that investigations are by default held in public and if there are reasons why it should be held in private then the committee here then decide that it could be held in private?” he asked.
“We should at least at the initiation stage try to find as public a system as possible which will then be more visible to society and more transparent as a result.”
Mr Howlin said investigations would normally be held in private but their procedures would be subject to the committee’s rules. The Abbeylara Supreme Court decision limited the ability of committees to hold investigations into issues of public concern.
“We need to overcome the blockage there was to proper investigation in all inquiries in the past . . . we need to give confidence to people that they can vote for this without ensuring that we’re going to set up a star chamber or anything else,” Mr Howlin said.
Controlling the cost of Oireachtas inquiries “in contrast to the huge costs of tribunals” would be an important element in the new inquiry system, Mr Howlin said. The committee will be required to prepare an estimate of the cost of a proposed inquiry to the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Committees of inquiry can direct anyone to attend to give evidence and produce documents, Mr Howlin said. Investigators will be given powers to enter premises and to examine and secure documents and information relevant to their inquiry, he said, although private dwellings can only be entered with a warrant issued by a judge.
Once inquiries get under way, the committee will stand back from the inquiry process.
