President Mary McAleese has signed the controversial Credit Institutions (Stablisation) Bill into law after consulting the Council of State about its constitutionality.
The President met the Council of State at Áras an Uachtaráin today to discuss the controversial legislation which gives the Minister for Finance sweeping powers to deal with the banks.
After the three hour meeting at the Áras a short statement was issued on behalf of the President.
The statement read: “President McAleese has signed the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill 2010 this evening pursuant to the Constitution and it has accordingly become law.
The decision of the President was hers alone as she is not bound to follow the advice offered by the Council of State.
The decision will come as a relief to the Government which hopes to take decisions on the future of Allied Irish Bank as quickly as possible on the basis of the legislation.
The Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill was rushed through the Dáil in four hours last week.
Today’s meeting of the Council of State was the seventh convened by President McAleese since she took office 13 years ago.
The Council of State is made of 22 members, including the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Ceann Comhairle, the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, the Attorney General, the Chief Justice and the President of the High Court.
Former president Mary Robinson, five former Taoisigh and to former Chief Justices are among the members of the Council along with seven people appointed by the President.
The decision of the President means that the Bill is now law but its constitutionality can be challenged by an affected party at some future date.
If it had been referred to the Supreme Court and it had deemed that it was in accordance with the Constitution it could not have been challenged again on constitutional grounds.
In advance of the President’s decision today she was encouraged by the Opposition parties to refer the bill to the Supreme Court.
Fine Gael Finance spokesman Michael Noonan said that he would like to see the legislation tested by the Supreme Court so that it could be proofed against some further nasty surprise for the taxpayer in regard to the banks.
Mr Noonan said that while he acknowledged the independence of the President and the Council of State there were important concerns about the constitutionality of the Bill which his party had raised in the Dáil.
He said that while some of the issues raised related to theoretical powers being conferred on the Minister for Finance his primary concern was Section 28 of the Bill which might expose the taxpayer to further losses of billions of euro and that was why it needed to be tested in the Court.
Labour Party deputy leader and Finance spokeswoman Joan Burton welcomed the decision of President McAleese to consult the Council of State and said her party believed there were strong grounds for referring the Bill to the Supreme Court.
She said that her party’s principal concern related to Section 53 of the Bill which vested power in the Minister for Finance to make orders notwithstanding any other enacthment.
“We do not believe there are any Articles of the Irish Constitution that could justify a usurpation of powers by a minister of the government to make laws on behalf of the State, instead of those laws being made by the national parliament,” she said.
“The Bill seems to us to have one essential purpose: to provide for the power to amend the law by ministerial order,” Ms Burton added.
On their way into theCabinet meeting today, ministers declined to make any comment on the deliberations of the Council of State.
However, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said the European Central Bank had not sought substantial changes to the Bill. He said the Bank had been closely consulted about the Bill and had been in a position to offer opinions about it.