Only 'court of public opinion' may judge Dáil statements

BERTIE AHERN "may be judged by the court of public opinion" over the accuracy or otherwise of Dáil statements about his financial affairs but not by the Mahon tribunal, the High Court ruled.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly said Article 15.13 of the Constitution states that members of the Oireachtas shall not be amenable for any utterance in the Houses of the Oireachtas to any authority except the Houses themselves.

It does not permit the tribunal to draw attention to statements made by Mr Ahern in the Dáil which are inconsistent with statements made outside by him.

To do so may suggest that the words spoken in parliament were untrue or misleading and that was "not permissible", he said.

The judge did not accept the tribunal's claim that the purpose of such an exercise was to ensure the evidence before it is complete. "Rather, there is a clear suggestion which imputes impropriety to Mr Ahern in respect of utterances made in parliament. The court cannot permit the tribunal to engage in such activity."

The tribunal may publish the Dáil statements in its report and leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusions as to whether or not Mr Ahern was "factually erroneous"and, if he was erroneous, whether such inaccuracies were deliberate or accidental.

"Mr Ahern may be judged by the court of public opinion in respect of his parliamentary utterances but not by the tribunal."

The judge said the tribunal had sought information about loans provided to Mr Ahern in 1993 and 1994 in its private inquiries but those loans became the subject of publicity in September 2006 following unauthorised disclosure by unknown persons of confidential material.

After the publicity, Mr Ahern made four statements on the matter in the Dáil in September and October 2006. The tribunal and Mr Ahern's lawyers differed over how the tribunal was entitled to address the Dáil statements in circumstances where it believed Mr Ahern was "factually erroneous" in those statements.

The tribunal at one point claimed parliamentary privilege in Article 15.13 did not apply where a Deputy had previously made statements, the substance of which was repeated in the Dáil, but it had since changed that stance.

The judge said the only issue now between Mr Ahern and the tribunal was whether it could draw his attention to his Dáil statements insofar as they may be inconsistent with his evidence or statements outside the Dáil.