Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

The series of questions posed by the Deputy related to the discovery order to which I have referred over the past few days. A total of 35 people from the Department plus 14 lawyers are employed specifically to comply with the direction. I hope we will be able to meet the needs of the commission in this regard, although it has proven difficult in the past because of the nature of the request. At all times the officials in the Department dealing with orders for discovery acted on the advice of senior counsel, which advises the Department on legal matters. There seems to be some confusion about the specific discovery order under discussion. In the case to which the Deputy referred, we are not talking about documents which the Department knows it has and will not hand up, although this is the impression that has been created.

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