Mr. Jim Connolly:

I must congratulate Deputy Ó Cuív as he brings an eloquent simplicity to this whole issue in the way he articulates the issue in question.

I took advice on the relevance of Article 40.3 of the Constitution and the advice suggests that somebody's right to privacy is a personal right and is not actionable after the person's death. So that argument is a red herring.

I totally agree with everything Deputy Ó Cuív has said. I can give a bit of colour on the sword he mentioned, because it is a very interesting story in its own right. My engagement with Bank of Ireland was actually in a professional manner and does not relate to the time that I worked for the bank. I created a television programme that never saw the light of day that was based on safekeeping. I was given a tour around the vault in Bank of Ireland's branch in College Green. One of the questions I asked is whether any of the items were ever opened and I was directed to this chest, with a big belt around the middle of it, which is like a chest that was carried at the back of the Titanic. The chest was deposited for safekeeping at the turn of the 20th century. To the best of my knowledge it was deposited in 1905. I was visiting the vaults in 2003 but I was told the chest was opened in 1995, when President Clinton addressed the nation from College Green. The American Secret Service, as well as welding shut all the manholes and getting rid of all the bins around College Green, went into the vaults which would have been directly below the stage from where President Clinton was addressing the nation and a sniffer dog took issue with the chest that had been there for the guts of 90 years. Out of courtesy to the American Secret Service, the chest was opened and inside was war memorabilia, including a ceremonial sword with a jewel encrusted butt, as well as a loaded pistol. It was the gunpowder in the loaded pistol that the dog had picked up on. That gives members a flavour of the richness of the history that this stuff represents. The idea is to go back to the oldest item on deposit and deal with each item seriatim. This is a task of elephantine size that can be eaten one bite at a time. The easiest way to proceed is to go to the earliest item and move forward from there.