Ahern resists Labour move on sources

MINISTER FOR Justice Dermot Ahern is resisting a Labour amendment to tribunal legislation to enshrine the protection of journalistic sources in law.

Labour TD Pat Rabbitte yesterday proposed an amendment to the Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005, which is still before the Dáil, to provide legal protection for journalistic sources and other confidential information relating to tribunals.

However, Mr Ahern said the amendment was effectively second-guessing a significant judgment due shortly from the Supreme Court, which would explore issues of journalistic privilege. This is a reference to the case involving the planning tribunal and The Irish Times.

The Minister, speaking at the committee stage of the Bill before the Oireachtas Justice Committee, claimed the amendment would give carte blanche to anyone who was due to come before the tribunal to “spin as they see fit”.

Labour’s amendment says a tribunal shall not require a person to disclose the source of information “unless the tribunal is satisfied that disclosure of the source is essential in order to protect the constitutional rights of some other person and outweighs the public interest in preserving the confidentiality of the communication”.

Mr Ahern claimed the amendment “went against” its stated intention of protecting journalistic sources by confirming that a tribunal was entitled to protect itself.

Proposing the amendment, Mr Rabbitte said the Oireachtas should not pass up this opportunity to protect journalists’ sources. Referring to the beef tribunal, he said there had been “outrage” when in a previous situation involving manifest wrongdoing, the only person to be punished was a journalist who received confidential information.