Review of the Powers of Inquiry of the Houses of the Oireachtas – Constitution Committee to take evidence from Donncha O’Connell, School of Law, NUI Galway

The Committee will take evidence from Donncha O’Connell, School of Law, NUI Galway

The meeting will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, 12 January at 9.30 a.m. in Committee Room 3, Leinster House.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Deputy Seán Ardagh, chairman of the Committee, said:
“Among the numerous calls for reform of the political and institutional framework in the State has been a call to enhance parliamentary accountability of Government. This is the central question that the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution is examining in its review of the parliamentary power of inquiry. As a cross-party committee, we are very hopeful that a window of opportunity now exists to strengthen the power of Parliament to undertake in-depth investigations into matters regarding public policy-making and administrative affairs.

In our review to-date we heard evidence from academic experts with specialised knowledge of parliament and government, together with evidence of international best practice. At our meeting tomorrow we will hear from Mr Donncha O’Connell from the School of Law, NUI Galway who has written persuasively on this subject. We plan to publish our report in February so that our recommendations can inform implementation of future reform efforts in this area.”

This Committee can be viewed on-line at: http://www.oireachtas.ie/ViewDoc.asp?fn=/documents/livewebcast/Web-Live.htm&CatID=83&m=o

For further information, contact:

Ciaran Brennan,
Oireachtas Communications Unit, 01-6183903/086-0496518

Committee Membership
Deputies       Senators
Seán Ardagh FF (Chairman)     Dan Boyle (Green Party)
Jimmy Devins (FF)      Denis O'Donovan (FF)
Olwyn Enright (FG)      Eugene Regan (FG)
Charles Flanagan (FG)      Alex White (LAB)
Brendan Howlin (LAB) (Leas-Cheann Comhairle)
Paul Kehoe (FG)
Michael Kennedy (FF)
Jim O’Keeffe FG (Vice-Chairman)
Ned O’Keeffe (FF)
Mary O'Rourke (FF)
Michael Woods (FF)

Further information on the Committee’s ongoing work is available on the Joint Committee on the Constitution page on www.oireachtas.ie