Inquiries referendum

I thought this from Meng Die in the Open Thread is well worth posting up on its own… – wbs

I hate to divert attention from the thrilling competition over who is ruthlessly anodyne enough to spend the next seven years twiddling their thumbs in the Phoenix Park but there’s been a worrying lack of debate on implications of the Houses of the Oireachtas Inquiries referendum on this blog or anywhere else.

The wording of the referendum is here. Brendan Howlin has promised to publish legislation on implementation of the amendment before the referendum but he has indicated that it will be up to the relevant committee to decide the balance between individual rights and public interest.
Howlin and others have pointed to the House of Commons investigation of the hacking scandal as an example of a successful parliamentary inquiry. What I think they are actually referring to is all the lovely television coverage they can get by shouting at bad guys. I had great fun watching the interrogation of all those bastards from News International but that’s because it was public theatre. Now, there may be an argument for the cathartic effects of parading our own hate figures in sackcloth and ashes but given the revanchist character of this government – and more so for some of the committee chairs – I have my suspicions that the evil doers will be of the SINDO variety.

Of course, like every other initiative this government have come out with, the referendum is being touted as cost saving measure in that it will provide an alterntive to the gravy trains of the tribunals of inquiry. Instead of that, perhaps we could do something about the excessive gouging done by the legal sector in general – god forbid, barristers could be put on a salary during tribunals instead of a per diem.