The former DoI Minister told his then airport director not to attend a Tynwald committee, a situation the committee has labeled “unacceptable”
Gary Cobb was due to appear before the Economic Policy Review Committee before leaving Ronaldsway, but the hearing was cancelled just hours before it was due to sit.
In a report due to be laid before Tynwald this month the committee, chaired by Jason Moorhouse, explains it was due to hear from Mr Cobb on October 11 before an email sent on behalf of Tim Crookall led to this being cancelled.
It said “we were obliged to cancel the hearing because the then minister had told the witness not to attend”.
Don’t Go Without Me
The committee said that 15 days before the hearing the department asked the Office of the Clerk of Tynwald whether the Minister (then Tim Crookal) and Chief Officer (Emily Curphey) might also attend the session.
After a meeting the committee decided that they would be welcome to attend in the public gallery, but they should not sit alongside the Airport Director as witnesses.
The committee said this was because “Mr Cobb was about to leave the department and the best use of time, in our view, was to hear from him alone”.
Eight days before the planned hearing, the DoI wrote to the Clerk of Tynwald asserting the existence of a convention under which the Minister and Chief Officer should be invited alongside the Airport Director, but was told to contact the committee chair.
The committee says: “No such approach was made before the day of the intended hearing itself.”
we were obliged to cancel the hearing because the then minister had told the witness not to attend
Send Apologies
Less than 24 hours before the intended time of the hearing a business support officer in the department wrote to Mr Cobb, on behalf of Mr Crookall, asking him to tell the committee he could not attend.
That email, sent on behalf of the minister and chief officer’s office said: “Further to the invite to the public oral evidence hearing please advise the committee that you are unable to attend as Minister Crookall, who was going to attend with you, has a calendar commitment which has been accepted and unfortunately without political representation your attendance would not be appropriate.”
Mr Cobb then forwarded this to the committee saying “I have received the below so won’t be able to attend tomorrow”, sending his apologies.
Contempt
The committee 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.
“As a result of the Department’s mishandling of this matter, a valuable opportunity has been lost to obtain to capture the experience of an outgoing Airport Director for benefit of the parliamentary record.
“If the Department had wished the Committee to reconsider its position of inviting the Airport Director to appear alone, such a request could and should have been made well in advance of the intended date of the hearing. In fact no such request was made.
“If the Department had intended to negotiate for the hearing to go ahead on condition that the Minister and Chief Officer were allowed to participate, the scheduled time of the hearing should have been kept clear in the Minister’s diary on the basis that parliamentary duties should take precedence.”
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