Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Senator Walsh referred to three paragraphs. The first is straightforward and refers to a report produced by or on the authority of either House of the Oireachtas. Clearly, a report of the House must have privilege attached. I am not sure whether it is provided for in the Constitution as well as in statute law. If statements in the Houses enjoy absolute privilege under the Constitution, the rationale for including reports is the same.

Fair points can be made on the other two matters raised by Senator Walsh. First, there is a change with regard to the proceedings of a committee of either House of the Oireachtas. It is a change on which I am open to persuasion and I would be happy to get the views of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges of each House to establish what are the wishes of each House with regard to the section. However, there is one difficulty I would like to highlight. Under legislation the Houses have powers of compellability. When a person is compelled to give testimony before the Houses, the Houses are embarking on a fact-finding mission, which would entail the attachment of absolute privilege to the utterances of witnesses. I propose to refer the matter to the committees and I will take into account their views. As Senator Walsh outlined, witnesses are at present advised of their qualified privilege. However, I will seek the view of the committees on this.

The final question related to the tribunals of inquiry. There is no doubt the manner of their operation has led to the traduction of reputation in a very improper way. However, this does not arise in this legislation. It has more to do with our determination to establish tribunals and the character of the terms of reference we attach to them. The tribunal of inquiry, as a device, is a method of transferring an issue from the political system to a judicial investigation. That is the basis of the legislation.

The system of tribunals was introduced in the UK in 1920 after an infamous saga known as the Marconi scandal, in which leading Ministers in the Liberal Government were alleged to have been involved in improper share dealings on the London Stock Exchange. A parliamentary committee of inquiry was charged with investigating the allegations but, of course, a parliamentary committee can become very partisan due to the domination of certain parties in the committee membership. Therefore, in 1920 the then Parliament of the United Kingdom decided to establish a machinery in which a judge would be brought in to investigate the allegations.

In the history of this State, many tribunals have been established to investigate natural disasters or matters which did not have a direct bearing on the Houses of the Oireachtas or the performance of functions by Members. However, in recent years we have come to use these tribunals more extensively in these areas, which has given rise to much difficulty. That is why the commissions of investigation legislation was enacted, and many of the proceedings before those commissions can be conducted in private. The difficulty of public disclosure of private information by tribunals is also serious. As I made clear in the other House recently, the tribunals of inquiry Bill will give us an opportunity to explore these issues, but it is not intended to be brought into operation in advance of the completion of the current tribunals and their work within the envisaged timescales.