John Ellis (Fianna Fail)

I would have preferred to raise this under section 7 but it had passed. It is very unfair that the Clerks of the two Houses of the Oireachtas and the Ombudsman are on the commission. It should be composed entirely of members of the Judiciary, with somebody who would do the statistics for them. The Judiciary should decide this because there are vested interests. I do not refer to anybody in particular, but it is open to vested interests to become involved. I say that because whatever documentation is produced is gone once the commission finishes, whereas if the Judiciary made the final decision it would be in a position to deal with the matter fairly with a non-vested interest. There could be vested interests and we would not know it, whereas the Judiciary has always been accepted as being above reproach and it should do this. It is very unfair.

Earlier I pointed out that the Ombudsman had to give a decision on my freedom of information application for documents. This meant the person who sat on the commission decided whether I should get documentation under the Freedom of Information Act. That is wrong. Those people are put in an invidious position by being on the commission. The Supreme Court is made up of a number of judges from the various courts. In this case one could take one judge from each of the Supreme Court, the High Court , the Circuit Court and the District Court. If one wanted an odd number one could add a fifth member. It is wrong that civil servants make the decision rather than somebody who is separate from it.