Clerk to the Committee:

I have had no correspondence with the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, other than submitting the application. I received the letter from the committee this morning. The problem we have always had in this regard is that we were first out of the traps in seeking compellability. It is very difficult to know, therefore, the level of detail that the committee requires to make a decision. However, as one can see from its letter, the committee wishes us to be far more explicit. I kept the application general. The legislation provides that one can either make a general application or seek compellability in respect of specific individuals. If the Deputy recalls, when the committee was dealing with the section 39 bodies, there was an issue about Government bodies releasing information to us, as well as Rehab and specific individuals. We kept the application general in order to encompass this in order that if a Government body such as the HSE wished to give us information but felt it could not do so unless it was compelled to do so, we would spread the net of compellability over the Government bodies, as well as persons in Rehab.