I do not want to say anything that is not in order. This may not interest Senator Crosbie, but if Senator Crosbie were a member of our small community down there, about whom so much has been said and written that is not true, Senator Crosbie would feel that there were impelling reasons why we should hold this inquiry. Much has been said that is untrue. It has gone out to the public and has not yet been contradicted. I felt, therefore, that there was justification for giving in this House the reasons why we welcome this inquiry. I think I am within my rights in saying that I do know that in such a catastrophe there are lengths to which decent people will not go. The charity of silence is often much more powerful and fairer to afflicted people than any desire for work of a spectacular nature on the part of newspapers however attractive it may be from the point of view of circulation, it is undesirable that, when tragedies come upon the country, people should feel an impelling urge to describe them in the most gruesome form and in a manner that may be very unfair. When the commission starts its investigations, I think that a tale of marvellous heroism will be unfolded, and that those who misunderstand at present, because they have not been given the facts, will then see the facts in their proper light. This will have a restraining influence on people who desire to speak of these things in a manner that should not be encouraged.
Perhaps the House does not desire me to go further than that: at least some Senators obviously are not anxious that I should. I would like the Minister to give some information, of a more explanatory nature than he gave in the Dáil, when he indicated his intention to set up this commission of inquiry, with regard to the personnel of the commission. The Minister indicated that it was not a question of trying to fix blame or responsibility, and I am sure that view would be accepted. We have been thinking about this locally, to find the weaknesses in our defences. If this inquiry is to result in securing our communities against such occurrences in the future, it must fix responsibility somewhere. We must discover the causes of the weaknesses and, probably, we will have to distribute the causes over different authorities and even different persons. Even Government Departments have partial responsibility in this matter and in arranging the personnel the Minister should give consideration to that aspect. Those who are interested in the holding of the inquiry would be happier if the Minister would recognise that it will be impossible for the commission to make a report without finding faults or weaknesses somewhere. It is quite conceivable that responsibility might be fixed with a certain disregard for the actions or efforts of different parties in the past to provide against occurrences like this.
The Minister would be well advised to indicate that the chairman of the commission would be a lawyer, that someone acquainted with fire-fighting would be another member and that an inspector of his own or of some other Department would be included. That third person, I gather, would be from some Department in contact with these institutions in the past, and that would make the commission better balanced and its judgment would be more fair. It would make the people concerned at both ends feel that there would be a judicial approach to the questions which the Minister is putting to the commission. I think it will be revealed that there is nothing to be shirked, nothing which cannot be discussed and that, as the circumstances were, everything that could be done was done. If there were faults, they are faults which are to be found in a great many of our institutions. That aspect is very important in regard to the personnel of the commission, and the Minister would be well advised to take it into account, especially in view of the fact that the Irish public has been given an interpretation of the position which is not true and which has tried sorely the feelings of people who have had a great burden put upon them. It is a peculiar dispensation of Providence that that burden should be put upon those people. Wrongs must be righted and it is important that the commission should watch every aspect of the case to ensure that the examination will be regarded as perfectly impartial and that the ultimate decision will be regarded as a judicial decision.