Public excluded as evidence is given on bank accounts

The public was excluded from yesterday's sitting of the Payments to Politicians tribunal after a ruling from its chairman, Mr Justice Moriarty.

Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Jerry Healy SC, said the tribunal wished to examine information which, if explored in public, "could have the effect of damaging the interests of people who may have nothing whatsoever to do with the tribunal's business in so far as its terms of reference are concerned".

Mr Healy said his concerns related to "bank information and the duties that bankers have to ensure the confidentiality that they owe to their clients is protected". The "duty that they have cannot be overwritten except by an order of the tribunal".

Witnesses were "going to be asked to identify persons who might be affected by orders made against banks for the purposes of obtaining information which might ultimately lead to evidence which would be material to the tribunal's public proceedings", he said.

Mr Healy said the work was "part of the investigatory phase of the tribunal's business" but that in order to conduct it, it was necessary in the first instance "to have an order made excluding the public in as much as the duty of the tribunal to respect the interests of persons whose rights might be affected couldn't otherwise be served".

Mr Justice Moriarty said it appeared "that what has arisen at this phase of the tribunal's inquiries does represent another balancing of the tribunal's duty to inquire as fully as possible into the subject matter of the terms of reference whilst at the same time seeking to safeguard as far as possible the confidentiality of persons who may be affected".

He added: "I am of the view from what has been stated by Mr Healey that whilst I do not lightly request that the public withdraw from sittings, the only way of surmounting this particular obstacle is to hear evidence in private".

Mr Justice Moriarty said the tribunal would then form a view as to whether evidence should be heard in an open sitting. If it transpired "that the matter is not material then the confidentiality of such persons may be safeguarded and the matters will not proceed to full hearing".