Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On the face of it, this Bill is straightforward and it should be supported. I thank the Department of Finance officials for briefing myself and Deputy Donnelly the other day. The Bill appears to be uncontroversial. As I understand it, it is a Bill to ensure that the banking inquiry can gain access to all the information it might wish to access in the context of that inquiry from Central Bank officials who might otherwise be prohibited from giving it out. In the normal course of events, if those officials gave out information to people they should not give it to, they could be subject to criminal sanction but if Deputies disclosed that information and breached the secrecy and confidentiality clause, they would not be subject to certain penalties because of the privilege they enjoy. There should be some penalty regime, therefore, or we should be subject to the Standing Orders of this Dáil regarding sanction. I have not seen the details of those Standing Orders but I understand that, for example, a Deputy could be put out of the Dáil for eight days, which is not the most punitive sanction I could imagine. There are times when I wish I was put out for eight days.

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