Mr. Dermot Woods:

It was given consideration. I think the Minister's view partly, on the one hand, is that if one identifies journalists as a group who have a particular position, and indeed they do and that is recognised in law and would therefore have to be taken into account by the District Court judge who is considering granting an authorisation, there is also particular recognition in law of the privileged position of medical practitioners or legal practitioners or sacerdotal privilege. Members of the Oireachtas have a particular position and that is recognised in law also. One ends up then with a potential schedule of individuals in respect of whom applications might have to be made in a different way and who would then attract a greater protection for the same rights than other citizens. The Minister's view was that his preference was to accord protection across the board. That does not mean that journalists are in any way less protected than other citizens. It means that they have an equivalent protection. In respect of the arrangements that are in place in law already, the specific position in law of the protection of journalistic sources, those arrangements have to be taken into consideration by the judge in assessing whether he will grant access of not.