Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Let me put my idea in a different way, then. There is that correspondence which will be published and self-evidently is cleared for publication. There is other material we will decide not to publish for whatever reason. I am not even convinced it will work but I think the following is our best shot. Can we decide that the clerk and our officials will circulate electronically all of those things which, in any event, will be published but that we take a different tack with other documents? As we saw, that is a slightly different matter in terms of evidence, material or information. At minimum, we could deliver it, which would at least give members pause to think "Actually, this documentation is different in its nature". That may not be workable. However, writing to the CPP to write to all of us is not going to make any difference. If people were amenable to that logic, the leaking would not have happened. It is very frustrating and annoying. While we could get over that, the real danger is that somebody we want to appear and to assist us with our investigation might take the view, legitimately, that he or she is not going to get a fair crack at things and refuse to show up. We need to be conscious of all of that. Once we have the witnesses in the room, it is absolutely fair that we question and examine matters rigorously and fully. That is how the committee operates. However, no one should be doing anything that causes anyone to feel that not only will the questioning be rigorous and tough, but that it will not be fair. That is a real problem for us. That is the only suggestion I can come up with but I do not know if it is workable.