Matters coming before the tribunal were too serious to be treated in a sensational way, as they had been in a newspaper article this week, Judge Alison Lindsay warned yesterday.
The judge was referring to an article Wednesday's Irish Examiner had based on sections of a document discovered to the tribunal by Prof Ian Temperley.
She said she wanted to be fair to all parties, not only to those who had suffered but also to those whose reputations or interests were at stake.
"These matters are too serious to be the subject matter of sensationalism. I do not want any repetition of the kind of article which appeared in the Examiner. If there is, the tribunal will have to take appropriate steps," the judge warned. She said the tribunal may make copies of documents available to interested parties where necessary on the strict basis that they were solely for the purpose of the tribunal and neither the documents nor their contents should be disclosed to a third party without the permission of the tribunal.
It would be a breach of duty if any person gave a document or an extract to the press, and it could also involve a criminal offence under the legislation which dealt with obstruction or hindrance of the tribunal.
It was irresponsible and unfair of the media to write about an issue not yet dealt with by the tribunal but which would be, the judge said. It was also unfair to those referred to in the article and those who suffered.
Judge Lindsay said the tribunal would investigate how the appalling suffering happened. It would also investigate the people with responsibility and the instructions and care given. Those persons would have to account publicly for how they discharged their responsibility.
