PAC given legal advice on investigation rights

The Public Accounts Committee has been issued with legal advice outlining which bodies it can investigate and which organisations are outside its remit.

The clerk of the committee provided the "strictly privileged and confidential" document as part of an assessment of its terms of reference amid efforts by the PAC to compel witnesses such as former Rehab chief executives Frank Flannery and Angela Kerins.

It also comes as TDs attempt to investigate semi-State agencies like Bus Éireann and EirGrid as well as projects undertaken by local authorities, such as the Poolbeg incinerator.

Beyond remit
The note says its purpose is to set out the bodies that are clearly within its terms of reference; fall outside its remit but are not excluded from being investigated by the PAC; and those which are "clearly outside its remit".

It lists a number of commercial State bodies, including Aer Lingus, RTÉ and Bord Gás, which fall outside its remit and cannot be investigated.

The legal advice specifically rules out EirGrid and says it seems “clear” it is “outside the remit of the PAC”. “The likelihood is that the PAC would be acting outside its terms of reference if it sought to examine any matters relating to EirGrid,” it said.

Evidence
While it says the PAC "would be exceeding its remit should it so call in Bus Éireann to discuss its accounts or its affairs in general" it says there may be grounds to seek evidence in regard to school buses funded by the Department of Education.

“It may be appropriate for the PAC to seek relevant evidence from Bus Éireann in that regard. In addition it might be appropriate to seek evidence from Bus Éireann should the PAC find itself examining a specific report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on school transport.”

While it says the PAC can look at the spending by the Department of the Environment, it says it may be difficult for it to “reach down into specific local authorities in respect of specific projects”.