THE Taoiseach has signalled his reluctance to relax the rule on Cabinet confidentiality by saying that "any change considered at any stage would only be in the most exceptional, grave circumstances, if at all".
Mr Bruton offered only the remotest prospect of a constitutional referendum being held during his current term of office when he told Opposition leaders in the Dail the difficulty was that, even if it was done in those cases, it might have unintended, adverse effects on the quality of Cabinet discussion.
Outlining six reasons yesterday for not proceeding with a referendum "this year" - as promised in the Programme for Government - Mr Bruton said drafting the necessary legislation on Cabinet confidentiality had identified constitutional, legal and administrative issues which required further consideration.
These included how the doctrine of collective responsibility from which the whole issue of Cabinet confidentiality derived enshrined in Article 28.4.2 of the Constitution was to be preserved and the manner in which the proposed exception to the confidentiality rule was to be incorporated into the Constitution in a situation where the principle itself was implied rather than stated.
Other issues raised were whether the test should comprise overriding public interest as referred to in the Report of the Constitution Review Group rather than a matter of grave public importance; the role, if any, to be given to the courts in testing overriding public interest; and the effect this would have on the operation of government and as between the executive, legislative and judicial institutions of the State.
The remaining reasons cited by the Taoiseach were: the manner in which evidence of statements made at government meetings was to be provided to a tribunal or committee of inquiry in a situation where, as a matter of principle, discussions were not written down, decisions only being recorded and communicated to those directly concerned; and the application of whatever rule or principle was agreed to government committees.
Asked by the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, if the proposed amendment was being deferred because it was complex or if it still had to happen, Mr Bruton replied: "I am not saying for certain that we will find an appropriate form of amendment we can stand over. A decision has not been reached.
"We will not be able to put forward a proposal this year because of a number of specific problems I have identified which deserve further consideration. The most important of them is probably the one of collective responsibility."
There was concern about the impact of a breach or lifting of Cabinet confidentiality on the question of collective responsibility, Mr Bruton continued. "We may be moving towards a situation where Ministers are individually rather than collectively responsible. This would be a major change in constitutional practices maintained in this country for a long time and may not be one that one would wish to make."
Asked by the PD leader, Ms Mary Harney, if he had considered a previous proposal of hers to introduce legislation defining limits for Cabinet confidentiality, Mr Bruton said he had concluded this was not a feasible approach because the government may not promote legislation which was unconstitutional.
