The Council of Ministers has rejected a report by the a Tynwald committee which accused the DoI of “unacceptable” handling of a hearing with former airport chief Andy Cobb.
Ministers have described the allegations as “unfounded” and criticised the Committee for bypassing ministerial protocols.
In its report, the committee, chaired by Jason Moorhouse said: “The handling of this matter by the Department of Infrastructure was unacceptable. It was a discourtesy to this Committee and arguably a contempt of Tynwald Court.”
However, CoMin argued that the committee’s approach breached constitutional norms by inviting Mr Cobb directly without notifying the Minister or Chief Officer.
“It was discourteous to the Minister not to even inform him of this approach when the Minister is the person accountable to Tynwald.”
The dispute centred on the EPRC’s request for Mr Cobb to appear alone in October 2024, citing it as a “last chance” to hear from him before his departure.
The Council criticised the lack of clarity, stating: “There is still to this day no clarity on what ‘experience’ the Committee was seeking to capture.”
It is not much of a jump for anyone to assume it wanted to hear about Mr Cobb’s experience in dealing with the DoI and why he had chosen to leave the island.
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