Kerins was asked ‘legitimate questions’

Former Rehab Group chief executive Angela Kerins is seeking to extend the courts’ control over parliamentary proceedings in a “very significant and wholly unprecedented” way, lawyers for the Dáil public accounts committee have told the High Court.

PAC has existed as a parliamentary institution since 1695, and the need for it derives from the requirement to make government answerable for its expenditure, said Paul Gallagher, counsel for the committee. Ms Kerins was asked “legitimate” questions concerning expenditure of “a huge sum” of public monies paid to Rehab, he said.

In affidavits, PAC chair John McGuinness, Sinn Féin TD Mary Lou MacDonald, and Independent TD Shane Ross denied complaints by Ms Kerins over questions and comments made during two PAC hearings on February 27 and April 10, 2014.