A speech was made in the House last Wednesday on a serious issue and material that was disseminated, individually, to members of the Committee of Public Accounts. I wish to invoke Standing Order 59. In essence, as a House we need clarification on this because names were mentioned in the House and those who were mentioned have categorically denied any assertions or allegations that were contained in that material. It was wrong and out of order for Deputy Mary Lou McDonald to name names in the context in which she did. In particular, the individuals concerned need to know how they can get redress or, in essence, get their names cleared on the record and their reputations cleared as well.
I ask the Taoiseach as well the status of the documentation and material that the authorised officer has disclosed to 13 members of the Committee of Public Accounts in terms of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. My understanding is that the parliamentary legal adviser to the Oireachtas is concerned that names could not be mentioned and that the Committee of Public Accounts did not have jurisdiction over the issue and could not inquire into it, and yet it seems that some sort of shadow inquiry is under way. The Revenue Commissioners were before that committee last week and there may be more discussions around it. We are either holding an inquiry or we are not. There is an issue around the legal advice pertaining to the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. These are important issues for all of us in the Oireachtas, but particularly for those who were named because they have had no chance to have their names cleared and no mechanism has been provided to them to enable them to have the allegations and assertions withdrawn.
There is comprehensive and extensive documentation on this issue within the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.
Comprehensive material going back a number of years is available and the members of the Committee of Public Accounts have not had access to it. All of the material was sent to the Garda fraud squad, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the Revenue Commissioners, the Mahon tribunal and the Moriarty tribunal. All of those had extensive powers to investigate the issues raised. Their powers were far more extensive than those of the authorised officer as section 19 investigations are by definition preliminary. This is a legal matter. It has been laid down in law, and in the courts, that due to the very preliminary nature of a section 19 investigation, the material must be sent on to prosecuting authorities and bodies that can investigate. That has happened, but it seems to me that pending any deliberations by the committee or this House, it was wrong to name the names in that manner. Under Standing Order 59, I ask that either you, a Cheann Comhairle, would make a decision on the matter or that it would be referred to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, in terms of the decision by Deputy Mary Lou McDonald to put the names on the record of the House, notwithstanding the categoric denials by the people concerned that they never had such accounts or were never involved in any way. They have said that publicly. There is a need for what was said to be withdrawn from the public record.
