Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It is a question of appropriateness. We have set up tribunals of inquiry to look into various matters. The requests for information from the tribunal were made on a confidential basis and it would be improper for me to divulge the content of that correspondence. That is the situation as far as the tribunals are concerned. It is they who make the requests. People must understand that it would be totally inappropriate for me to divulge any information about the correspondence received in my Department from the various tribunals. All such queries comprise the private phases of the tribunals' work. For reasons of confidentiality required by the tribunals I am prohibited from going into any more detail. We must respect the tribunals in the conduct of their work. That is the reason I must give the answer I am giving.

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