: Deputy Gene-Fitzgerald has been given permission to ask a private notice question.
Private Notice Question . - Confidential Government Documents .
: I want to ask the Taoiseach the action he intends to take to establish and to stem the source of memoranda, minutes and other confidential Government documents, now freely circulating, relating to the Pro-Life amendment.
: The Government are seriously concerned that confidential official documents should receive the kind of circulation to which the Deputy refers, and investigations are already in progress to establish the source or sources responsible. I would earnestly appeal for the wholehearted co-operation of Members of the House and anyone outside the House who may be able to help in these investigations, and I ask them to contact the Minister for Justice. The leaking of these documents has very serious implications for the process of the Government.
: Who is carrying out the investigation and has the Taoiseach made the same appeal to members of his Cabinet that he has now made to the House? Will he confirm to the House that one of the three documents now known to be in circulation was leaked by him personally to the Anti-Amendment Campaign Committee at a meeting, and done so for very specific political purposes?
: I have to be careful about the use of words in this House but I think it is all right to say that that statement is false. I have had no meeting with the committee, I have never released any document and I think Members of the House, other than the Deputy, will know how to treat that extraordinary allegation. With regard to the question of the investigation, at the moment it is being carried out internally. The question of whether it should be taken further by way of Garda investigation is a matter which the Government have not yet had time to consider. It would appear that one of the documents in circulation is an internal memorandum between two civil servants which never reached the Minister in question or any other Minister. That is a factor we will have to take into account in the inquiry.
: Does the Taoiseach agree that the leaking of what had hitherto been recognised as confidential documents by his Minister for Justice some time ago has set the headline for the type of leak we have seen? Does he agree that he did not give me the information in his original reply? He said an investigation is being carried out. When asked who is carrying out the investigation he said no specific decision has been taken. Does he realise the seriousness of the course his Government are now embarking on, apparently a policy that is deliberate?
: The initial inquiry is being carried out internally. No decision has been taken as to whether, as in previous cases, they should be put into the hands of the Garda, an obvious course of action depending on whether results are achieved in the initial inquiry. In regard to the earlier part of the Deputy's question, the answer is I do not agree with what he said. The Minister for Justice has not leaked any document at any stage. Anything he has done in the performance of his duties has been done publicly in the House.
: Is the Taoiseach aware that his Minister for Social Welfare, in the House, for purposes of his own political argument, disclosed details of a Government memorandum which was submitted to the Government in our time, and does he not think that that sort of behaviour by his Ministers in regard to the most confidential Government documents and information sets a very bad headline for other people? Does he not think that his Government are now, in this regard, reaping the whirlwind which they themselves sowed?
: Ministers are entitled to refer to Government memoranda or documents when necessary in order to clarify points. They have an absolute right to do so. The Official Secrets Act does not arise in such circumstances. No such action by a Minister in pursuit of his duties could conceivably justify, nor should the Leader of the Opposition suggest that it could, the action of anybody in leaking confidential information by way of Government documents.
: Rapidly deteriorating standards.
: The remaining questions will appear on the Order Paper on Tuesday, 26 April 1983.