asked the Minister for Justice if the report on the prison service and allied matters commissioned by him and carried out by the Institute for Public Administration in 1976 is publicly available, if copies are in the Oireachtas Library and, if not, if it is proposed to make the report publicly available.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Prison Service Report.
3.
The report was commissioned in 1975 and the findings were presented to my Department in May 1979.
It is still being examined and it is likely that some of the findings will be of use in the management of the prisons and places of detention. It was never intended that the report, as such, would be published and, in fact, some remarks expressed by some identifiable persons and groups which are quoted in the report were franker than they would have been had there not been an understanding that the report would not be published. The report will be available on a confidential basis within the Institute of Public Administration for future research work.
Would the Minister consider that the usefulness of such reports is diminished somewhat by the closed nature of the circulation list? Allowing for the fact that this may have been drawn up in circumstances in which confidentiality was understood, might I ask him if he would be willing to have a precise of the report published in the public interest and for public consumption which would not breach that confidentiality?
That is something I would be prepared to consider. Perhaps I could get in touch with the Deputy on it. I do not want to say "yes" or "no" to the Deputy's request now. I should like to examine it and, if it can be done, I should like to give the reasons why it cannot.
What is the Minister's attitude generally to the publication of such documents and reports?
If a report was commissioned, as it was, in my predecessor's time, if it was being carried out on a confidential basis and if the people who were being asked to help in regard to the gathering of information for the report were given an assurance that the report would be confidential, then it is a very serious matter to break that confidentiality.
Nobody would want to break that.
I accept that, but that is part of the dilemma in which I am caught.
Surely the purpose of such reports is to elicit some sort of systematic finding or some new insights which would be useful? It would seem to me to be logical and would it seem to Minister to be logical that the widest possible circulation consistent with standards of confidentiality would be required?
If at the particular time it was the intention of the Government or of my predecessor to publish the report—had he cleared the way at the start it might have made things much easier, although, I am not blaming him for it—probably I would do the same thing. However, I will investigate the Deputy's other request and, if I can, I will accede to it and, if not, I will tell the Deputy why not.