Sir, – The High Court in its judgment in Kerins v Public Accounts Committee and Others has found that Angels Kerins voluntarily attended the committee. I recall counsel for the PAC stated this as part of his defence of the committee. Council for Ms Kerins disputed the "voluntary" nature of her attendance. Your editorial of February 1st ("The Angela Kerins case – A matter of rights and responsibilities") states that the judgment also noted that, "she need not have appeared before the committee at all or answered any of its questions". The PAC made it clear that it is entitled to scrutinise how public funds are spent by Rehab companies. It did not, however, have the power to compel Ms Keirns to attend.
The strong recommendations in your editorial are extremely well founded. It says, “As a corollary to the court judgement, the Oireachtas needs to devise an enforceable code of conduct for its members in order to protect the rights of citizens”. In the meantime, it is open to citizens called “voluntarily” before an Oireachtas committee to apply the “Kerins principle” and refuse to attend. In practice, this would probably be an exceptional event.
Is it reasonable to expect that in any such refusal, an Oireachtas committee would accept and acknowledge that a “voluntary” refusal is in accord with its stated position and supported by the High Court? Time will tell. – Yours, etc,
GERRY COFFEY,
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Balbriggan, Co Dublin.