Vol. 567 No. 6
114 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Finance the reason he has abandoned work on legislation to provide for the appointment of parliamentary inspectors, having regard to the fact that this was one of the key recommendations of the DIRT inquiry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14636/03]
The original intention was that parliamentary inspectors could be appointed where an Oireachtas committee carrying out inquiries under certain statutory powers decided that it required such an officer to assist it. This was to be done by giving those inspectors a range of legal powers to compel citizens to give evidence on oath and to provide documents relevant to his or her inquiry.
Since work on this issue began, Oireachtas committees conducting inquiries under compellability provisions have been successfully challenged in the courts. Steps are also being taken by the Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform to establish committees of investigation in inquiries into matters of public concern. This carried a risk of both a parliamentary inspector at the behest of an Oireachtas committee and the committee of investigation deciding to investigate the same matters possibly at the same time. Not only would this be uneconomic but it could also result in divergent conclusions and generate conflict between the two authorities. It could also expose to undue stress a citizen who happened to be involved in both processes. In the light of these developments, I no longer believe that such legislation would fill a useful purpose.
Question No. 115 answered with Question No. 70.
