Welcome to Ireland: The land of inquiries and water charges

Here we go again. After six weeks of playing ducks and drakes with a genuine matter of public interest, the Government has reached for the red button of a commission of inquiry.

Once more the failure to address a serious issue in a manner befitting a parliamentary democracy has resulted in the whole thing being directed towards Inquiry Central.

Yesterday Michael Noonan announced the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate the sale of Siteserv and issues related to IBRC. Not a half-baked look-see, as first proposed, not an independent scooping exercise, but the full monty. This country is fast becoming the land of inquiries and water charges.

It could all have been avoided if Noonan had dealt with the issue 18 months ago when Independent TD Catherine Murphy resurrected the sale of Siteserv, a controversy which had flared briefly when the deal was done in 2012, and had thereafter died a death.

READ MORE: Noonan forced into full IBRC inquiry .

Instead of answering the legitimate questions which Murphy had, Noonan pulled down the shutters.

He gave partial answers. He ducked and dived and wished the whole thing away. Last month, Micheál Martin accused Noonan of misleading the Dáil in the manner in which he had answered questions on Siteserv.

He denied it. On May 3, Noonan told RTÉ’s The Week In Politics that he and his department had answered all parliamentary questions addressed to them.

“What they (the department) didn’t give out was background information and the deputy knew quite well she could get background information by way of a Freedom of Information request, and she did that.”

Sure she did, because she’s a diligent parliamentarian. But why did she have to? She’s not a reporter, and is not representing a political interest group or a lobby. She is a TD, who should be provided information in parliament that she requested.

As far as Noonan and those around him were concerned, this Siteserv business could be trouble. One of the company’s lines of business is installing water meters. The people had risen up against Irish Water and all its works. Somebody in government obviously felt it was better to keep a lid on anything that might provide political opponents with an opportunity.

That approach simply wouldn’t be tolerated in a functioning democracy. The information would be disseminated through proper and prompt channels when requested by a parliamentarian, and the chips would fall where they may.

Unfortunately, pulling down the shutters in scenarios like this is not unique to Noonan, or even to his government. More than anything it stems from a cultural attitude in the executive of the day, which dictates that the Dáil is a talking shop to be tolerated rather than the forum for lawmaking.

A similar attitude prevailed during matters arising out of the debacle of Irish Water; as it did during the simmering Garda controversies last year. Go back as far as the establishment of the planning tribunal in 1997, or the beef tribunal six years earlier. Prevaricate, deflect, waffle, anything that might make it go away in case there is something in its entrails to embarrass the Government.

The only variant is the route taken. This tends to be a function of the seriousness of the political fallout pending. Usually a scoping exercise is set up first to see where a full commission is required. Only when the danger to political capital is clear and present does the Government go straight for the full monty.

So it went with Fennelly, the inquiry into bugging in Garda stations, that was about to explode on a bonfire of existing of garda related controversies. So it went yesterday.

Quite obviously events of the last seven days prompted the Government to throw shapes to suggest it was taking all this very seriously. Sure it is, as long as it doesn’t cost them.

It’s no way to run a country.

READ MORE: Noonan forced into full IBRC inquiry .