The Oireachtas Sub-Committee set up to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the massive cost overrun of a CIE signalling project, cannot complete its work for legal reasons.
The committee today published an interim report. This revealled the committee could no longer continue its work because of a pending Supreme Court decision as to whether the Abbeylara inquiry is constitutional or not. The High Court has already ruled that it was not constitutional.
The committee was set up to inquire into cost overruns in a rail signalling project. The original budget for the mini-CTC was €18 million, but the cost for the still unfinished work reached €65 million.
The High Court has also granted a judicial review into the committee’s right to investigate the mini-CTC after a challenge was launched by the wife of the late CIE director Mr Michael McDonnell, who said her husband’s reputation was being damaged by the inquiry.
Also, the sub-committee would have needed to finish its work before the dissolution of the current Dáil, otherwise, the same members of the committee would have had to be re-elected for it to be able to continue its work in the new Dail. The chairman of the committee, Mr Sean Doherty, is not standing for re-election and this would have required the.