Ms MaryRose McGovern:

This is why there is a further amendment to the legislation on the publication of reports. It is recognised that if we have a public hearing in any investigation, a further legislative amendment is required in order to ensure that if the ombudsman considers it appropriate to do so, the parties would be identified.

Returning to the Deputy’s original question, it is important to recognise that the Constitution sets out a different category of entity in Article 37. While the Supreme Court is of the view that administrative bodies play a role in the administration of justice, it is important nevertheless to see the function of those bodies as a very specific thing. For example, in an oral hearing that is trying to get to the depth of an issue of non-disclosure, it is difficult to see how the interest of justice would be served by having somebody reveal their most intimate and sensitive medical details in a public arena. We have to keep our minds open. There may well be situations where a public hearing will be appropriate but I am not sure that having a default one way or the other for that subsection of formal investigations is-----