Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Yes, my advice is to be careful with regard to the Labour Court. The Labour Court may well enjoy a qualified privilege because the parties making statements there have an interest in making them and the person hearing the statements has a duty to hear them. There may well be a qualified privilege but it is desirable, as a matter of principle, to have an exhaustive list of the occasions to which absolute privilege attaches.

That leads me to the last question which Senator Regan, and all of the Senators, naturally raised and that is the question of local authorities. The current position is that they enjoy a qualified privilege. The question then arises whether an absolute privilege is attached to it. This House enjoys an absolute privilege for the effective operation of its system of supervision of the Executive but even in the experience of this House we have seen arguments about the abuse of privilege. We have a committee in each House to regulate the abuse of privilege so when an abuse takes place the House, of its own motion, can discipline a Member for a breach of privilege.

It is a drastic extension of the law to create very large numbers of bodies. In justice we could not confine it to county councils; we would have to include town councils as well. The number and range of bodies is so large, the problems of regulation of abuse so extensive and the risk to the reputation is so great for those who could be defamed by these statements, that on balance there is not a good case for it.