Vol. 517 No. 6
400 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to a letter dated 4 December 1999 from a person (details supplied) in Dublin 8; if he will reply to it and make available on the public record the documents sent to his Department in March 1988; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10573/00]
I am aware that my Department has received the letter referred to and subsequently an application under the Freedom of Information Act for a copy of the letter from the author of it. An application has also been made by the same person for other records which pre-date the commencement of the Act, including the records the Deputy refers to. These matters are being dealt with by my Department in accordance with FOI procedures.
The issue of making the records available on the public record is a separate matter. The records concerned relate to allegations of misconduct on the part of people employed in the industrial-reformatory school system. These matters are in part the subject of separate Garda and health board inquiries. The commission to inquire into child abuse will also have access to the records and may inquire separately into the matters referred to in them. In general the public interest in the matters to which the records refer is already being protected and pursued.
