Parliamentary privilege

Dáil’s Committee to test the boundaries of Parliamentary privilege over Daly case

Mick Fealty on November 17, 2016, 10:11 amLeave a comment | Readers 324

This is one to keep an eye on, not least because of how it relates to a matter that’s already a matter of controversy, ie Dail Privilege. Clare Daly used her privilege to express annoyance that a circuit court judge treated her in court, claiming she’d been singled out because she was a TD. In fairness to the Deputy, the judge’s language does seem to have been a little melodramatic. But under the separation of powers between the judiciary and parliament, the …

A Constitutionally guaranteed ‘freedom of speech’, or is the Dáil just going a bit rogue?

Mick Fealty on May 30, 2015, 12:17 am21 Comments | Readers 905

By far (for me anyway) the most interesting story of the week took place yesterday in the south. And it’s a real poser. Not least because it involves a clash between the common perception of parliamentary privilege in the UK and what it means under the Irish Constitution. The disclosure made in the Dail yesterday by Deputy Catherine Murphy was both partial and (unlike a similar disclosure by Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald’s earlier in the year) a deliberate run …

Devaluing parliamentary privilege as vital tenet in a democracy…

Mick Fealty on April 21, 2015, 12:36 am1 Comment | Readers 520

Great piece by a very measured Mick Clifford on what constitutes an abuse of Parliamentary privilege in Dail Eireann. Takes for an example the ways in which two TDs – Mick Wallace and Claire Daly – who have each made important contributions to investigations into Garda practice have strayed across a crucial line: Filtering is required to find out which have substance and demand further attention. My friend in North Cork is not alone in harbouring a grudge against a …