Legal

Elaine Byrne: Making public inquiries more efficient is at the state’s fingertips if it would just listen

Judge Cregan’s final report on the Siteserv affair contains perfectly sensible solutions to reform interminable public inquiries that have been said before and it’s time the government actually heeded these recommendations

Judge Cregan’s final report on the Siteserv affair was published last week, criticising the way in which Ireland carries out inquiries. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland

Here we go again. Yet another report by a public inquiry into matters of significant public concern contains recommendations on how to conduct such inquiries.

Judge Cregan’s final report on the Siteserv affair was published last week. The 17-page report was blunt about the need for reform of future commissions of inquiry. The frustration of the High Court judge was obvious. “It is a matter of concern that an investigation which the Oireachtas stated to ...