Public Accounts Committee is 'totally paralysed' by new rule

Committee chair Brian Stanley is to write to Seán Ó Fearghaíl asking that Standing Order 218 be rewritten after members said the newly drafted rule will severely curtail their work. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The Public Accounts Committee is demanding a redrafting of an "overly restrictive" rule which will "totally paralyse" its work.

Committee chair Brian Stanley is to write to Seán Ó Fearghaíl asking that Standing Order 218 be rewritten after members said the newly drafted rule will severely curtail their work.

Mr Stanley said the work of the committee has been frustrated by the new ruling which was drafted in response to the Kerins judgement and said some flexibility is now needed.

"This limits the work that both the Oireachtas and the public expect us to carry out. It completely ties the hands of PAC."

Fianna Fáil TD Marc MacSharry said the standing order "totally paralyses" the committee system and "over prescribes" the allowable actions of members in a way that "assumes us all to be incapable of interpreting basic rules while preserving the vital importance of and the existence of parliamentary privilege."

He argued that senior Department staff and State agencies will now all be equipped with a tool to refuse to answer any questions on current matters unless it's first approved by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges (CPP).

He said this is a "totally unnecessary administrative and bureaucratic burden which will definitely hamper work of the committees".

Fellow committee member Catherine Murphy said: "There needs to be a rebalancing of what has been presented. The Standing Order severely limits what the PAC can do."

The committee met in private for almost an hour on this evening, during which it was decided to write to both the Ceann Comhairle, the CPP and the whips of all parties to ask that the rules be changed.

Mr Ó Fearghaíl had already asked PAC to stall any examination the Leaving Certificate grading fiasco.

The PAC wants to examine procurement matters related to the calculated grades system for the 2020 Leaving Certificate and had asked that the Secretary-General of the Department of Education come before it, however, Mr Ó Fearghaíl has suggested that they may not have jurisdiction to do so under the new Standing Orders.

In a letter to PAC, Mr Ó Fearghaíl cited the Supreme Court decision in the Kerins case.

"As you will be aware, the Court found that a predecessor Committee of Public Accounts had acted unlawfully by, inter alia, acting outside its terms of reference. The Court also found that the Houses should put in place procedures to police adherence by Oireachtas Committees to their terms of reference.

"In this context, the Court suggested that a mechanism be put in place to allow for quick and efficient changes to Committee terms of reference," Mr Ó Fearghaíl said.

The Ceann Comhairle "respectfully requested" that the matter not be progressed any further by PAC until it is considered by the Dáil's Committee on Procedure.