Committee to seek legal advice before investigation

The Dáil Public Accounts Committee is to seek independent legal advice on whether it has the right to compel former Rehab executive Frank Flannery and Angela Kerins to appear before it.

Members of the committee meeting this morning disagreed over whether it was in its remit to compel the pair to give evidence.

The Dáil Committee on Procedures and Privileges has told the public accounts committee it needs more information before deciding if it to grant compellability in relation to the continuing hearings into Rehab.

Fine Gael TD Eoghan Murphy said compelling the two former Rehab executive to appear was outside the remit of the committee.

However, committee chair John McGuinness and Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald disagreed. Ms McDonald said there was an attempt to “nobble” the work of the committee. There was clear discomfort in Government that the committee was managing to call individuals to account.

Mr McGuinness said the issue was well within the committee’s remit and it was “nonsense” to say it wasn’t.

Independent TD Shane Ross said the stance adopted by Mr Flannery and Ms Kerins, who have been in correspondence with the committee over recent months, was a “camouflage” and “a refusal by any other name”.

He said he had attempted to attend the meeting of the procedures and privileges committee last night but was refused.

He claimed there was an attempt to “nobble” the committee and to ensure it didn’t seek compellability. “This is a very serious situation for us. We are being deliberately frustrated,” he commented.