Government loses referendum vote on new parliamentary powers of investigation

Which proves just how more sophisticated the Irish electorate is compared to that in the the UK! Witness the recent farcical all three parties three-line whip debacle in the British House of Commons regarding Britain's continuing membership of the European Union! The Irish voters by and large, are far more politically aware than their British counterparts-shame though they weren't more vigilant when it came to managing their finances! The spending spree brought Ireland to it's knees.It's all too simplistic to put all the blame for Ireland's plight on bankers, developers and politicians. We all enjoyed the party I seem to remember!

Irish people are not stupid.We know it's not nessessary to change the Constitution just to bring criminals i.e.bankers,property developers and people in authority, to justice.The people who brought this country to it's knees should be treated like any other criminals and that includes everyone from the top down.

In consideration of how they falsified the rule books of Ireland it makes no sense to vote for anything......Any and all legal transactions in Ireland are null and void........Having falsified rule books invalidates everything.

This attempt by the political establishment to confine investigations of matters of public interest such as corruption of the like to itself is wisely rejected by the Irish public. It was a vague attempt at extending the powers of the Oireachtas and not calculated to serve justice but calculated to keep reform away from the courts and statute book where the reforms need to be. Much of the corruption of recent years begins and ends with the patronage system in the Oireachtas and this rejection of the extension of Oireachtas patronage powers is a vote of no confidence from the electorate. Try bringing forward plans to introduce power of recall to constituencies and you'll soon see a 'yes' vote. The days of the Oireachtas standing on its honour are long gone and this vote is an acknowledgement of the lack of trust in that body in Irish public life. Bring forward the real reforms and stop messing about, Shatter.