asked the President if he will state on what date the Executive Council made the order which was recently served on some Irish newspapers declaring certain letters passing between the President and the Governor-General to be confidential State documents and prohibiting the publication of same under the Official Secrets Act; whether the document served on such newspapers was a correct copy of such order; whether that order has been published; whether an authentic copy thereof can be obtained, and why notice of the making of such order was not published in the "Iris Oifigiúil."
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Government and Official Secrets Act.
asked the President if he will state under what section of the Official Secrets Act the Executive Council purported to act in making an order recently served on certain Irish newspapers declaring certain letters passing between the President and the Governor-General to be confidential State documents and prohibiting the publication of same under the Official Secrets Act.
I am answering questions 2 and 3 together. No order of the Executive Council was served on Irish newspapers regarding the correspondence which passed between the President and the Governor-General, but the attention of the sub-editors was directed verbally to the fact that in my letter of 8th July, forming part of the correspondence in question, there was a definite statement that the Executive Council regarded the documents constituting the correspondence as confidential State documents which should not be published. At the same time the editors, at their own request, were allowed to see and to copy a note which had been prepared by the police authorities for the guidance of the officers who carried out the duty. In this note, which was a police document, not intended for service upon anybody nor for publication, the direction of the Executive Council contained in my letter of 8th July was referred to as an "Order" of the Executive Council. The police authorities assure me that no suggestion was made to any person that any document in the nature of an Order existed other than the relevant passage in my letter of 8th July.
Did the police leave any documents with the newspapers?
Except in so far as implied here. The newspapers took a note of it at their own request. No official service of a document was made, I understand.
Concerning the notice, was any specific reference made to the Official Secrets Act, or particular section of this Act?
I am certain no reference was made to any particular section but, from what I have heard, it is possible that when attention was being called to the paragraph in question, reference was made to the Official Secrets Act or something of that kind. I am not certain of that but I have reason to believe that it is possible that may have happened.