An Oireachtas sub-committee inquiry into cost overruns in the mini-CTC rail signalling project is concerned with how public monies are spent and it is in the public interest that its work is completed, the High Court heard yesterday. Mr Felix McEnroy SC, for the sub-committee, said if a court-imposed stay on the proceedings of the body was not lifted speedily, there was a real likelihood the work of the sub-committee would not be concluded before the next general election.
He pointed out no stay was imposed when 36 garda∅ secured leave to take a legal challenge to the work of an Oireachtas sub-committee set up after the shooting dead of Mr John Carthy in Abbeylara, Co Longford, last year. Counsel was moving an application to lift the stay on the sub-committee's proceedings.
The stay was imposed last week when Mrs Noreen McDonnell, widow of the former CI╔ chief executive, Mr Michael McDonnell, was granted leave to take judicial review proceedings challenging aspects of the sub-committee's conduct of its business.
The case continues today.