Adjournment Debate. - Confidential Document on Anglo-Irish Negotiations. – Dáil Éireann (27th Dáil) – Wednesday, 24 Nov 1993

Mr. J. Bruton

The leaking of this document is a betrayal of both communities in Northern Ireland and a betrayal of the entire Irish people. It appears that the document was in circulation at official level within the Department of Foreign Affairs. The exact extent of its circulation is not quite clear or the number of officials to whom it has been circulated. I expect the Tánaiste will indicate the exact number of officials to whom it was circulated and give their names in response to this debate.

My understanding is that there has never been an occasion in the history of Irish diplomacy since the State was founded in 1922 when a document of the nature of the one in question was leaked to the press. Irish Governments and Ministers for Foreign Ministers have been engaged in the most difficult negotiations in the past, dating back to the negotiations for the Treaty, the negotiations for the Statute of Westminster and negotiations for various Anglo-Irish agreements through the thirties, the forties and the fifties to the negotiation of the Irish accession to the European Community.

I am not aware of any case where a Minister for Foreign Affairs presided over a leak of this kind in the past on any occasion in Irish diplomatic history. It is a matter of extreme seriousness because it should be remembered that if an Irish position paper circulating within the Department can be leaked, so also could a paper circulated to the Irish Government by another Government be leaked. If there are people in the Department of Foreign Affairs or in the Government service who are capable of leaking their own Government's paper, they are also capable of leaking papers supplied by other Governments. This fact undermines the confidence that other Governments will have, and should have, in their dealings with the Irish Government. Therefore, I believe this is not a matter that can be treated as any other type of leak. It is not like an internal leak of documents from another Department concerning solely our domestic affairs. A document leaked in regard to foreign relations creates a precedent which could be used to leak documents supplied by other Governments and, therefore, could totally undermine the trust upon which Irish diplomacy must rest.

Furthermore, I believe in the case of this particular subject, the most sensitive subject with which we have dealt for many years in Ireland — the creation of an atmosphere of peace and reconciliation on this island — that the people with whom the Tánaiste is now dealing, namely, the British Government, will wonder what is really happening here. They will wonder what is the motive for this leak. They will wonder not only who did it, but why did they do it. They will suspect an ulterior motive; they will suspect things that may well be completely unfounded. But until we know exactly who leaked it and why, those suspicions will continue.

In particular I should like to know how long this document has been in existence? For example, has it been in existence for a number of days, a number of months or a number of weeks? I should like to know exactly to whom was it circulated. Was it circulated outside the Irish public service or solely within it? Was it circulated to established civil servants only or also to temporary civil servants?

I should also like to know exactly what the Tánaiste knew about this matter and what the Taoiseach knew about this matter. I should like to know if the Tánaiste can tell the House whether the leaking of this document and its timing had anything to do with the Taoiseach's visit to Derry, because it is quite obvious that the Taoiseach was placed in an impossibly embarrassing position of having to respond to questions about a document that it is plain that the leaker knew the Taoiseach had not seen. Therefore, the Taoiseach was placed in a worse position than I believe any Taoiseach was placed in a matter of this kind in recent memory. While I have had occasion to criticise the Taoiseach on many matters in the past, the person who was responsible for this leak placed him in a grossly unfair position. That is a matter for which somebody must take responsibility.

I should like to remind everyone in this House, in particular the Tánaiste, that this Government and every Government it has succeeded has been based on a number of constitutional doctrines. One of those doctrines is absolute and total ministerial responsibility for everything that happens within a Minister's own Department. Civil servants are not separately accountable for what happens. Civil servants do not have to resign because of what happens. The current doctrine — I believe it is a doctrine that is somewhat unrealistic but is one that successive Governments have insisted on continuing — says that one person, and one person only, is responsible for everything that happens within his or her Department and that person is the Minister. The Minister in this case, if the document's circulation had been confined to the Department of Foreign Affairs, is the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and no one else.

Therefore I want to know, and the House wants to know, what the Tánaiste will do about this. What personal steps, as Minister, will he take to put this right? When will he be reporting back to the House on this matter and, if he is not going to be in a position to report back to this House, what will he do about his own position in regard to this issue?

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

I am glad to have this opportunity to express my own sense of anger and outrage, which is shared by the Government, at the publication in last Friday's Irish Press of a confidential draft document which had been prepared in my Department. I have not referred to this matter publicly before now, since my first concern has been to take whatever steps I can to find the source of this leak. As much information as possible has been gathered and I have consulted with senior Garda officers in the matter. I am determined to take every possible step to find the source.

The publication arose from the unauthorised handing over of the document in question to Ms Emily O'Reilly, political correspondent of the Irish Press. Whoever gave the document to Ms O'Reilly, obviously in the knowledge that it would be published, either did not know or did not care that the interests of this country would be damaged by that act. Obviously, newspapers and reporters who are handed a scoop like this on a plate are going to be very tempted by it. My criticism is not directed at them — they must examine their own consciences in the matter — but rather at whoever handed over the document.

This document was prepared as part of a process of negotiation and discussion initiated by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and myself in September last. The British side of that process had already submitted preliminary views on matters which might feature in resumed political talks in Northern Ireland. The document published by the Irish Press was a draft, prepared at official level, of what our position might be in response to the position of the British Government. Of course, as such, the document inevitably could have undergone considerable change before any agreement between the two Governments emerged. In fact, it had never even been considered by members of the Government here; it was not even at a stage at which it was appropriate to submit it to the Government here, let alone to the British Government. In addition, the Taoiseach has already made it clear that there is no connection between this draft document and the work in which the two Governments have engaged to find a pathway to peace.

What this leak has done is to place a cloud over a small number of respected and honourable people. I have indicated my own willingness to submit to any questioning about the matter by the relevant authorities. I know that everyone else who had any role in connection with the document is equally anxious to have the matter cleared up.

The publication of a document like this, prepared for a very specific purpose, inevitably distorts perceptions of the likely outcome of any process of discussion. The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr. James Molyneaux, last night referred to the "smell of betrayal" that his constituents detected in public utterances. All I can say in response to that is that I understand fully how partial information can lead to such a conclusion. But there will be no betrayal of the interests of either community in Northern Ireland by this Government as we search for a peaceful way forward for both communities.

I hope to have the opportunity in the Seanad tomorrow of addressing the present concerns of those communities in more detail. For now, all I can say in the time available is that I would number the perpetrator of this leak among the real betrayers of both communities in Northern Ireland.