asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will now give to the House the recommendations of the Transport Tribunal, and if he will cause the report to be circulated at an early date.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Transport Tribunal Report.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is now in a position to say when the report of the Transport Tribunal will be made available to Deputies, and if he will indicate the grounds on which the report of a tribunal established by Dáil Eireann has been withheld from the members of the Oireachtas for a period of over a year.
I propose to answer questions Nos. 18 and 19 together. Decisions in regard to the recommendations of the Transport Tribunal have not yet been taken and, as indicated when replying to Deputy Keyes's question on 7th August last, I do not therefore feel myself in a position to circulate this report.
Will the Minister answer the last part of question 19, which asks him to state the reason why this document has been withheld from the public? Is he aware that the contents of this report, or reports, have a personal interest for 25,000 railway and road transport workers as well as 15,000 railway shareholders, apart from the wider public interest?
The position in relation to this matter is, no doubt, familiar to the Deputy. It raises very difficult questions and, apart altogether from that, the conditions under which the report was prepared changed radically.
What is the reason for withholding from the public the contents of a public document?
It is not a public document at the moment.
Did the members of the tribunal recommend that this report should not be made public?
No, and it is not within their province to make recommendations as to the publication or otherwise of reports of this nature.
And it was this House that set up the tribunal?
Yes.
Has the Minister considered the advisability of getting people to concentrate their minds on the internal problems of this country, with the object of counteracting the reading of war news? Would it not help to concentrate public thought on this country's internal problems if the people had this report in front of them?
I am afraid it would not help them to concentrate.