Banking inquiry - Committee cannot be held back

Members of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have been told that no findings of facts can be made against previous office holders in the forthcoming inquiries into the banking fiasco.

The aim of the hearings is to help legislators prepare legislation for the future by learning from the mistakes of the past.

This is essentially a curtailment of parliamentary privilege, because members of the Oireachtas are being limited in their freedom to express opinions. Legislators have been free to speak out without running the risk of libel litigation, and the media is free to report what was said. This privilege has been abused at different times over the decades, but it was up to the Oireachtas to discipline its members. Now it seems the Government is trying to curb parliamentary privilege, and people should be asking why.