Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Catherine Murphy believes it may be relevant to the commission's terms of reference. She knows as much as I do; I have no further information in that regard. We should not second-guess Mr. Justice Cooke, who states that some of the information is relevant to his terms of reference. We have no idea whether it is a little of the information or all of it. I do not think we can ask him to explain what part of the information is relevant to him and which is not. I do not think we can question the judge on that matter. Each member received a copy of the information and that is a matter for each Deputy. The information was sent to the committee but the commission has indicated it is dealing with it to some extent and has asked for a sworn statement on the matter. I do not want the document to be put into public circulation or taken on board as a committee document. As Chair, I am clear on that. Parliamentary privilege could be claimed in regard to the allegations made. I do not wish for the Committee of Public Accounts to be used as a vehicle for people to make very serious allegations that may or may not have a basis in fact and have parliamentary legal privilege in that regard as a result of the committee taking a document on board.

The Committee of Public Accounts would not be wise to allow this document to be retained by the secretariat and I propose to return it to the sender, along with the letter from the judge.