Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, we will have a debate in the House on the commission of investigation. It is important that we look at all the details. What Deputy Martin has said in relation to the commission of inquiry is not what Mr. Justice O'Higgins said about the hearings and the way they were conducted. He said that they were inquisitorial and not adversarial and that is from the judge himself. He went on to say that this non-adversarial method was generally followed by all legal teams. There were a few isolated aberrations from this approach but he did not attribute what he had referred to as "aberrations" to counsel for any particular party. That is worth noting. He is the person who heard all of the evidence.

We need to look at the report. I have met the Commissioner and she accepts fully the recommendations and the report and has made it clear what her attitude to Sergeant Maurice McCabe is at this point and was in the past. She has made that very clear in the statement. We have to accept that statement from the Commissioner.

In relation to the other points Deputy Martin made on legal privilege, suffice it to say we would be going down a very dangerous route for future commissions if we were to insist that all legal professional privilege between clients and lawyers should be in the public domain; not that we could. It is important that we keep confidence in the commission structure. Keeping that confidentiality is part of that.

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