Oireachtas body seeks legal advice after Cooke refusal

An Oireachtas oversight committee has sought legal advice after retired judge John Cooke turned down an invitation to appear before it in relation to his investigation into alleged bugging of the Garda Ombudsman.

The Public Service Oversight and Petitions Committee is also to write to the Government highlighting serious concerns over its ability to perform its oversight role in light of issues raised by the former High Court judge.

Judge Cooke, whose report was published last month, wrote to the committee reluctantly declining to attend, citing a number of reasons.

It is thought he pointed out that his investigation was an ad-hoc, non-statutory review and that witnesses who spoke to him did so on a voluntary basis and that he had no power to compel people to be interviewed.

It is understood he said that, if the Government wanted non-statutory reviews to report back within eight weeks or two months, witnesses might not co-operate if they knew the person conducting the review might appear before an Oireachtas committee and be probed.

It is thought Judge Cooke also raised the prospect that senior counsel and retired judges might not take on the job if they could subsequently be called before an Oireachtas committee and questioned.

The chairman of the POSC, Padraig Mac Lochlainn, would not comment on the contents of the letter saying it was privileged. However, he confirmed that the issue was discussed by the committee and that two decisions were made on the back of it.

“One was that the clerk of the committee would get advice from the parliamentary legal adviser to see if there is any way we can achieve our role as an oversight committee, while dealing with the concerns in the letter,” said the TD. “Secondly, that we would send a copy of the letter to the secretary general of the Department of Taoiseach, Martin Fraser, and bring to the attention of the Government the issues raised by the letter and the implications for Oireachtas committees in fulfilling oversight responsibilities.”

Mr Mac Lochlainn, who is Sinn Féin’s justice spokesman, said there was a logic in having such reviews in terms of getting an assessment within a short period as to whether or not an issue warrants a full commission of investigation.

However, he said it was a serious issue if the committee he chairs, or other committees, could not fulfil their oversight responsibilities in relation to examining such reviews.