THE Dail Committee on Procedure and Privileges has found there was no abuse of privilege by the Fianna Fail TD, Dr Michael Woods, when he made allegations about the Attorney General, Mr Dermot Gleeson, in the House last year.
Mr Gleeson has no further means of changing the record of the Dail because the committee states, in its report which was put before the House yesterday, that it now regards the matter "closed". However, it has decided that all correspondence received during its investigation of the complaint should become part of the parliamentary record.
The committee had considered the complaint of the Attorney General which was lodged after Dr Woods claimed, during a debate on the Lowry affair on December 3rd, that Mr Gleeson had attended a meeting in Government Buildings on the previous Saturday, which "decided" he had to step down. Government sources have claimed that no such meeting took place.
The Attorney General complained to the committee, saying the claim was false and that to have attended such a meeting would have constituted "serious professional misconduct" because of his involvement as Mr Ben Dunne's legal counsel in the Dunnes Stores litigation.
Mr Gleeson also indicated that he wished to have his version of events on the Dail record.
In its report, the Committee on Procedure and Privileges said it had made "no finding as to whether prima facie an abuse of privilege has occurred in the making of the utterances by Deputy Woods". It also noted that a formal response from the Attorney General could not be published in the Dail records unless a finding of prima facie an abuse of privilege was made.
The report points out that in a letter to the committee in December, Dr Woods fully accepted that Mr Gleeson confirmed he did not attend the meeting.