Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Taoiseach go dtí an coiste. Maybe this is his first time. I will add to what the Chairperson has just said. I do not believe those are the views of the Chairperson alone. They are shared by many members of the committee.

My first question relates to Government leaks. It does not concern the investigation by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation into the leaking of the document by the Tánaiste. This concerns a different leak and one that has caused much hurt, anger and pain. On 10 January, the mother and baby homes report was leaked to the national media before it was shared with the survivors. I am sure the Taoiseach is as aware as I am of how people, particularly the survivors, found that deeply insensitive, disrespectful and unacceptable. The Taoiseach responded two days later by saying that the Cabinet had agreed that the Secretary General of his Department would examine the leaking of the details to the Sunday Independent.We are now three months on, so can the Taoiseach inform this committee what this examination found? Does he know now and has he uncovered who shared the information with the newspaper in question, on whose authority this was done, what the repercussions were and whether there has been any communication with the survivors on this matter in a public way?