Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Let us cleave this issue into two separate things. We are dealing with the nub of the referendum that was not passed last year. This is the type of issue that orbits around that. I return to the earlier hypothetical situation of the investigation of an issue concerning a particular disability by an Oireachtas committee, which would ask questions of the Minister of the day. Departmental decisions of the Minister and Cabinet decisions reflective of the issue will have been made. Would it be admissible to ask a Minister what information was available to him in the making of a decision? That is not a question of Cabinet confidentiality as I understand it. If the information available to the Minister ends up before the Cabinet, does it become subject to Cabinet confidentiality?