Vol. 337 No. 4
I move:
That, in relation to its investigation into the matter of the connection of SL-1 telephone consoles with over-ride capacity to the PABX serving the Houses of the Oireachtas, the Committee on Procedure and Privileges shall have power to send for persons, papers and records.
I understood that there had been agreement at the committee that in addition to seeking the authorisaction of the Dáil for those powers, there would be included in the motion this morning a provision similar to the provisions at paragraphs 7 and 8 of the motion for the establishment of the Joint Committee on State-Sponsored Bodies, namely, that the committee shall have the power to print and publish from time to time minutes of evidence taken before them and that every report to be made under the order be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. Perhaps we could have some clarification as to whether it has been found that it is not necessary to include such provision in this motion. Have the Committee on Procedure and Privileges got that power already? It was indicated yesterday that the authority of the Dáil would be needed to give them such power and that that request would be included in the motion.
It was my understanding that the proceedings of this committee would be confidential, that while there would be a verbatim report it would not be published until the committee had completed their investigation and until they had reported.
The indication was that the authority of the Dáil would be necessary in order to publish such report and that permission would be sought.
That also was my understanding. The case I put forward would be in agreement with what Deputy Boland is saying.
I understood that the committee were to report to the Dáil and that the Dáil would give permission for the publication of the report. That is the usual procedure.
The advice given was that the committee do not have the power under their terms of reference to request the attendance of persons or the production of documents and that it would be necessary to seek such authority from the Dáil if a verbatim report were to be published. I understood that it was the intention that a verbatim report would be kept and that it would be printed in the same way as are printed the proceedings of the Committee on Public Accounts, for instance.
It is a matter of time. Authority for publication is sought usually when a report is being presented. However, there is no reason why that permission cannot be sought now.
We do not wish to waste time on the matter, but the only person who is suggesting that the authority may not be necessary until later is the Chair. If, for instance, the committee concluded their investigations during the recess, they would not have the authority to go ahead with the printing of the verbatim report and would have to wait until after the Dáil had re-convened to get the appropriate authority. Obviously, therefore, we should sanction the authority now.
The reason is not simply that we may issue a report at the end of the investigations but that normally this committee do not keep a verbatim report. It is to allow us to take a verbatim note of the proceedings during this inquiry that we are seeking the powers as outlined in this motion.
But will it be necessary to introduce a new motion seeking authority to publish?
No. We will take it that it is added to the motion.
With the same wording as in paragraphs 7 and 8 of the terms of reference of the Joint Committee on State-Sponsored Bodies with the exception that the word "joint" be deleted.
