TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny has promised a referendum to allow the Dáil to conduct fact-finding inquiries. Ministers hope it can be held in tandem with the presidential election in November.
Mr Kenny told the Dáil yesterday his Government wanted members of the Oireachtas to be able to investigate the facts arising from the Nyberg and similar reports and a referendum to enable that would be held as a matter of priority.
As a result of the Abbeylara case a referendum was required to enable the Oireachtas to establish inquiries into matters of fact, Mr Kenny said.
In the Abbeylara case in April 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the Oireachtas did not have the power to make adverse findings of fact as to the personal culpability of an individual who is not a member of the Oireachtas.
The Abbeylara inquiry was set up after the shooting dead by gardaí of John Carthy in Abbeylara, Co Longford, in 2000.
Last night Ministers expressed the hope the referendum could be held along with the presidential election. Two other referendums have been promised by the Government: one on children’s rights and the other on abolishing the Seanad. It is unlikely either of these proposals will be ready in time for a November vote.
“After 10 years of nothing being done about it, the Government will prioritise this complex, sensitive and far-reaching legislation,” said the Taoiseach, who added that it would be prepared as a matter of priority.
“The people can have faith and trust in what the Government intends to do because, for the past decade, nothing has been done in respect of the capacity of this House or the Oireachtas to hold accountable persons who, by reckless greed, lack of oversight or whatever else, went off the rails completely and for whom the taxpayer must pay in consequence.”
He said that if the Government tried to carry out such investigations now it would “be laughed out of court” for attempting to pursue something it did not have the power to do.
It was also confirmed last night that the McCarthy report identifying how €5 billion could be raised through the disposal of State assets will be published today, having been considered by the Cabinet yesterday.