Government Powers to Dissolve Tribunals

[ChrIreland]

According to RTE:

The Government could soon have the power to dissolve a tribunal of inquiry under new measures discussed at yesterday's cabinet meeting.

I think we all agree that the soaring cost of Tribunals is very much out of control, and, the Government wants the power to dissolve them.

But, how will this stop an unscrupulous government of prematurely ending such tribunals which are an embarrassment to them, and which are especially sensitive to them. There is no doubt that McDowell would have welcomed those powers in respect of the Morris Tribunal in order to not to show up his own cover up.

Does anyone have the answer?

[ChrIreland]

Oh well, seems like nobody cares how many billion we spend on the Tribunals, or that they are prematurely terminated by unscrupulous government.

Well, I did get ONE reply anyway................. even if it is my OWN

[FutureTaoiseach]

I agree that this power is worrying. In my opinion the question of the tribunals is one that should be carefully considered. On the one hand there is the need to avoid ludicrous and unnecessary expense but on the other hand it is necessary to ensure that as much truth comes out as is sufficient to ensure that enough is known to allow for policies to be formulated to avoid a repetition of the relevant corruption etc. in the future. Naturally it may be unfeasible to drag every dubious planning-decision under the son before the Mahon tribunal, but a good sample needs to be investigated. After all the aim of tribunals - besides exposing wrongdoing - should be to uncover evidence of supposed abuses so as to allow for preventative measures afterwards.

In future tribunal and/or public-costs could be kept down by:

A: Imposing an annual rather than daily salary on tribunal lawyers. I understand this has probably been provided for by law recently and so in the future hopefully this new power of government will be used.

B: Allowing tribunal evidence - including witness testimony - to be used in court-cases. This would save the Gardai the expense of trying to dig up the information again - potentially from witnesses who suddenly refuse to repeat what they told the tribunal in court.

At the same time, the fear of expense should not be allowed to prevent the big picture from getting out.

[ChrIreland]

What a great response. Thank you Future Taoseach ....... I wish there were more people with your intellect and pure savvy.

I do agree with your views aqnd your summary is so clear and unambigous. Thanks.