Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

He made it in his contribution. It is of no relevance to this debate. I informed the House that I had received correspondence from Judge Smithwick. I informed this House that he had certain concerns and I addressed all of those concerns in my contribution. The suggestion is that I concealed the information from this House. I did not because the letter I received from Judge Smithwick on 27 May 2011 was marked to me as being private and confidential, addressee only. That is clear from the letter. The reply I sent to him was marked "Private and Confidential". I had a concern that that correspondence be transparent and publicly available. I was concerned it was not appropriate that the chairman of a tribunal communicate with a Minister for justice on a private and confidential basis. My reply to him, if the Senator took the time to read it, queried whether we could make the correspondence public and indicated that as he had marked the letter "Private and Confidential" I assumed at that point not to do so and I raise the issue.

On 1 June, the day that coincided with debates in this House and the other House, a letter was received in my Department from Judge Smithwick in which he made reference to him having no objection to what was described as "our chain of correspondence being put in the public domain". I replied to that. The chain of correspondence did not conclude until, I believe, the third week in June and when it concluded within a reasonable time for conclusion it was put in the public domain. It would have been entirely wrong of me to have published a selective bit of that correspondence. I hope the Senator, now that he understands that, would have the decency to acknowledge it.

I want to conclude on the Bill. This is a short but important Bill. It addresses a difficulty we have within the juridical system that applies to the Defence Forces. It is a Bill that I would hope would not be controversial. I regret that some have decided to create a controversy out of it. It is a Bill that I hope will have Seanad support. I am grateful to the Seanad for taking the Bill so rapidly after its publication. I am grateful to this House for agreeing that we proceed tomorrow to Committee Stage, and I look forward to a more constructive discussion tomorrow from some Members of the House than we have had today. I thank those who understand fully the Bill, its intent and for expressing their support for it.