Vol. 454 No. 2
3 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice, in view of her reply to Parliamentary Question 14 of 11 May 1995, the person in the Office of the Attorney General who indicated to her Department, for the purposes of assisting in the drafting of her reply, that correspondence had been received and answered in relation to compensation for the victims of Father Brendan Smyth. [10443/95]
This question has been dealt with at length in the House by the Taoiseach.
The practice is not to name individual civil servants in answering Dáil questions and I do not propose to depart from that practice on this occasion.
The issue of public identification of individual civil servants by reference to their functions is, I understand, one of a number of key matters which are currently being examined by the co-ordinating group of secretaries under the Strategic Management Initiative for the Civil Service. It will report to Government within a month and its report will provide the basis for measured decisions in this regard.
I take it from the reply that the discussion was not held with the Attorney General although a reply on 11 May states: "...I understand from the Attorney General that solicitors acting for the victims..." Did the discussion with the Attorney General or with the person in his office disclose the fact that the correspondence had been discovered as a result of tabling the parliamentary question and was hastily responded to by fax on 9 May? Did her discussion with the Attorney General or the relevant official disclose the delay to the Minister? If so, did she discuss that with the Taoiseach?
I have explained that the Taoiseach has, exhaustively and in an unprecedented manner, dealt with this issue over and over again in the House. I do not propose to revisit that debate. I answered the question put down by Deputy O'Donnell and I repeat the reply, that the practice is not to name individual civil servants in answering parliamentary questions——
That is not the question.
——or to deal with the day to day details of how the Office of the Attorney General operates. I can only repeat what the Taoiseach said to Deputy McDowell.
I am asking the Minister who replied to the first question.
The Taoiseach said it was fair to say that the tabling of the question by Deputy McDowell had an effect on a response issuing from the Office of the Attorney General.
The Minister for Justice is refusing to answer a factual question. In the context of drafting a reply to the question, I asked her if she was aware of the delay in replying to the correspondence. As Minister for Justice was she aware of that delay? If so, did she discuss it with the Taoiseach? The Minister refuses to answer that question.
Let us try to avoid repetition.
A question tabled on 5 May was replied to on 11 May. During that time the Minister for Justice was in contact with the Attorney General regarding the drafting of that reply. How can it be that she did not raise this matter with the Taoiseach who only read about the issue in the newspapers on 12 May even though I imagine the Minister for Justice was aware of the delay on 8 May.
This is leading to argument.
There were hours of questions about this issue taken by the Taoiseach and every last detail on how the matter was handled was put under a microscope and examined in the House and elsewhere. As the Deputy has not held office she may not know that when a question is received in a Department it is handled by departmental officials in the normal way and they gather information for the reply. In his original question, Deputy McDowell asked if an application for compensation was received in my Department. I gave the answer: "No". However, I went further and gave him information which I received from the Office of the Attorney General, in the normal way, in an effort to be as helpful as I could in answering the question. The Office of the Attorney General informed me and my Department of the information in my reply.
Will the Minister reveal who in the Office of the Attorney General dealt with drafting the reply in conjunction with her departmental officials? The question was not replied to orally. Did the Minister have a pre-prepared reply to a possible supplementary question by me on the issue of the delay?
There is a long-standing convention that officials should not be reflected upon. The Minister is responsible.
The Minister is refusing to give me even a tentative——
Reference to officials should be avoided if at all possible.
Was it official A, since he is no longer in the Office of the Attorney General?
I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his intervention.
The Minister is again concealing information.
I am not concealing information.
The Minister is not replying to a factual question.
I have given a factual reply. I have explained that I will not give the names of individual officials. I thank the Chair for assisting me.
I must insist on the orderly progression of Question Time.
I asked what was the extent of her knowledge of these matters and she refused to reply.
The Deputy has had a fair innings.
The record will show that the Minister is refusing to answer the question. It is beyond belief.
Please desist, Deputy.
The Deputy is exercised about this despite the hours of close attention the Taoiseach gave to every scintilla of information concerning the Smyth case. The information I gave to the House on 11 May was:
However, I understand from the Attorney General that solicitors acting for individuals comprehended by the Deputy's question have sought payments to their clients in the circumstances referred to by the Deputy. I also understand that the Chief State Solicitor has written to the solicitors acting on behalf of those persons informing them that there is no liability in law in respect of their claim.... As the solicitors representing the persons concerned have indicated that legal proceedings are to be issued, it would be inappropriate for me to say anything further.
That is the information I received from the Attorney General in answer to that question and is the information I gave to the House.
From the Attorney General?
Deputy O'Donnell can try all she might. She has teased and harried the Taoiseach to get the information.
The Minister is tempting me because she will not reply. She is rekindling the flames of controversy by not replying.
I have given the reply. The practice is not to name individual civil servants. I thank the Chair for reminding the Deputy who perhaps might forget the rules of the House.
The matter was nearly dead.
The time for Priority Questions is exhausted. Questions Nos. 4 and 5 may be replied to in ordinary time in accordance with a recent decision of the House.
