Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The legislation was not introduced to prevent every payment to every individual from ever being disclosed again. It was not intended for that. To be straight about it, I see what is happening in respect of the non-disclosure of fees paid to barristers, on the advice of the Attorney General, as the legal profession in the employ of the State and the barristers who are working on behalf of the State working together to protect one another. It is as simple as that. In the letter from Mr. Derek Moran, he referred to it being necessary and proportionate. Regarding the test of what is proportionate, if someone is saying that a person getting €1 million from the State – some barristers at tribunals got €2 million or €3 million over time – is not proportionate in the public interest and that it would be disproportionate to the individual who received a cheque of €3 million to have his or her name published, that is an abuse. I know what is happening. The legal profession is happy to spend the next five years in the Supreme Court and wherever else it goes to ensure that this does not come out. It just wants to run down the clock, during which time it will continue seeking not to publish the figures.

In the first instance, we will get a response from the DPC. Arising from that, the Committee of Public Accounts, of all the committees in the Oireachtas, has an absolute duty to verify to whom taxpayers’ money is being paid and for what purpose. Our committee will have a role. If we are ultimately satisfied that the legislation is not sufficiently drafted to ensure public accountability for public funds, that issue will have to be revisited. We will have a little bit of a road to travel first, but the intention of GDPR is not to protect barristers. It is an abuse of the system by the legal profession, full stop. It is the most powerful lobby and would not have been as quick were this about doctors’ fees or payments to other individuals.