CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUMS:A PARLIAMENTARY investigation into the banking crisis will head the agenda as soon as the 30th amendment to the Constitution passes, according to Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
At a joint news conference with Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, Mr Kenny stressed the importance of easing the limitations on Oireachtas committees so that issues such as the banking crisis could be investigated.
“I want to find out what happened on the night in question when the decision surrounding banks was made that affects every single person in the country. And I don’t have any evidence of what went on,” he said. “There needs to be an opportunity to bring in people to explain why decisions were made . . . and their impact upon ordinary people.”
Asked about the claim by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties that the referendum would set up “kangaroo courts”, Mr Kenny replied: “That is complete nonsense. There are appropriate regulations and limitations built into the law here that protect the good name of people involved.
“When I hear of night-time excursions by deputies who serve on committees, to go into houses and confiscate laptops and paperwork and all the rest of it, this is hysteria that’s generated here.
“There is no question of kangaroo courts or that kind of activity taking place. What’s involved here is that if public monies are being misspent or misappropriated, or there are issues of national public importance, that the personnel who are elected by the people should be able to carry out proper and appropriate inquiries into that.”
Asked about the criticisms by former tánaiste and attorney general Michael McDowell, the Taoiseach said: “Didn’t I hear him, or do I recall properly, that in respect of keeping the good name of people, he did call a very senior political person from the Fine Gael party ‘the Goebbels of Irish politics’.”
Commenting on the joint letter by eight former attorneys general opposing the proposed amendments on judicial salaries and parliamentary inquiries, Mr Gilmore said: “There is a bit of an old boys’ network . . . from this particular section of the legal profession.”
Mr Gilmore said it was “not surprising” that sections of the legal profession were arguing against the 30th amendment, “because the alternative to the kind of investigation that we are proposing under this referendum are the very expensive tribunals of inquiry that we’ve had”.
He added that “over €300 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent to date in the holding of inquiries. More than two-thirds of that, over €200 million, has been spent on legal fees.”
