A Supreme Court judge has concluded that an Oireachtas sub-committee had no constitutional power to conduct an adjudicative inquiry capable of making findings of personal culpability against Garda members over the fatal shooting of John Carthy at Abbeylara, County Longford.
Mr Carthy was shot dead during an incident at Abbeylara on April 20, 2000. A Garda report was subsequently placed before the Oireachtas and referred to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights. In March 2001, that committee established a sub-committee to investigate the incident.
The proposed inquiry could resolve disputed facts and, potentially, conclude that Mr Carthy had been unlawfully killed by an identifiable Garda or Gardaí. Garda members, including officers involved in the shooting, were directed to attend and give evidence.
A Divisional High Court held that an inquiry of this kind was outside the powers of the Houses of the Oireachtas. The committee, Ireland, the Attorney General and Alan Shatter TD appealed.
In her Supreme Court judgment, Ms Justice Susan Denham rejected arguments that the necessary power was inherent in the Oireachtas. She distinguished Ireland's constitutional system from the Westminster Parliament and the United States Congress, whose investigative traditions arose from different constitutional histories.
She said the Irish Constitution expressly divides powers between the legislature, executive and courts and specifically protects rights including fair procedures and a person's good name. There was no express, implied or inherent authority allowing an Oireachtas committee to conduct this type of adjudicative inquiry into individual culpability.
Denham J stressed that the Oireachtas could initiate other legally authorised forms of inquiry, including tribunals under existing legislation. Her conclusion concerned this particular type of parliamentary inquiry, not committee work generally.
She would dismiss the appeal, narrow the High Court's declaration to the Abbeylara inquiry itself and quash the directions requiring the Garda applicants to attend, give evidence and produce documents.