SEANAD LEADER Maurice Cummins (FG) said he was sure the Oireachtas Commission would deal with the issue of whether Oireachtas phone facilities had been used to influence the outcome of a celebrity television programme.
Referring to phone calls from Leinster House that helped Independent TD Michael Healy Rae to win RTÉ’s Celebrities go Wild in 2007, Michael Mullins (FG) said members had been dismayed by reports that such manipulation had possibly happened.
He urged the leader of the House to set up an inquiry to examine whether Oireachtas facilities had been abused and if the sums mentioned were correct.
Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton declined to accept proposed amendments from Government and Opposition members to the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill, saying she was anxious that the President sign the Bill into law today or tomorrow so its provisions could come into effect.
Seán Barrett (Ind) said it was wrong that a rushed procedure was being used to have the Bill signed within five or eight days.
If departments of State could not get their deadlines met, it was wrong to ask the House to intrude on the discretion and entitlements of the President, who should be allowed full time to say whether or not a legislative measure should be referred to the Supreme Court.
The Bill, along with an early signature motion, was passed without a division.
Mr Barrett said that during a recent debate on tourism, attention had been drawn to the fact that the Department of Transport had written to the regulator in relation to airport charges. “Was the bonus paid to the gentleman in question a reward for bypassing the regulator to get the 41 per cent increase in the charges? The fact is that the business of those three airports is down by 25 per cent.”
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