Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

He may well be, but that is the point. When the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, came into the Seanad a few weeks ago, he said that there was no Whip in the Seanad, that the Government is not responsible for Seanad Éireann and that his colleagues could vote whatever way they want. However, they all voted with the Government and all the Independents came over to this side for the first time ever.

There is a serious worry about fair procedures. Senator Mullen outlined that case last year, although I will not name it because I do not want to be associated with it or use that person to justify my point. The fact is that during inquiries such as the Abbeylara inquiry, there was a running commentary every day of the week on the plinth about what was going on in the committee. It made the headlines every day. I have not read the heads of the Bill, but this will have to be addressed. Members will not just have to keep schtum, as the Minister suggests, they will have to be obliged by law to do so and not give informal briefings which will lead to reports in the newspapers that an inquiry will find a certain person guilty. These are the dangers involved. The Judiciary never gives briefings to the media, and they have been criticised for not answering in particular cases, but we do not hear off-the-record briefings from judges in this country. The danger is that this will happen and make it a totally flawed process.

This can be good, and I fully believe we should have the right to summons people in here to speak to us. It is terrible when people refuse to come in here. However, we must be conscious that we could destroy the process ourselves if we do not have the right and fair procedures and if we trample on people's good names. We could ruin it for everybody and then there will be court cases, lawyers and bills. We will blame the Supreme Court, as some people are tempted to do today, but as the Minister said today, the Supreme Court is merely interpreting the Constitution. I said this morning that there is no need for that, because many Fine Gael Senators seem to pronounce on constitutional issues in the Seanad. The court's job is simply to interpret the Constitution, and it did that correctly in the Abbeylara case. If people's rights are trampled upon and if Members are out there plugging themselves on television during an investigation, the Supreme Court is going to step in. This will have to be firmly dealt in the law that is passed. In fairness to the Minister, his amendment ensures this, but the fact that he had to amend it in guillotined legislation gives cause for concern.