Changes in the law are required as the spate of tribunals, with the media revelations and alleged restraints on publishing relevant information, made it clear that the trust placed by the public in politicians had not always been reciprocated, the journal of the Bar Council has said.
The Freedom of Information Act and the Ethics in Public Office Act may be a start to a more open and responsible Government, but further exploration of the issues and appropriate policies were required, the editorial in the latest edition of The Bar Review, representing barristers, said.
The recent events in Irish public life had rekindled the debate on the competing values of the right to confidentiality and the right of the public to be informed of matters in the public interest.
The editorial states, however, that it would be a disservice to narrow the debate to one of exclusively legal rights and obligations. In a healthy society, freedoms carried with them duties and responsibilities which were acknowledged and acted upon without the need for recourse to legal actions.
Up to now we have had media which had been careful in their important role in disclosing information which was in the public interest and not merely of public interest. We had also entrusted to our politicians the role of determining the circumstances in which private interests would give way to their public responsibilities.
The editorial adds that the recent Supreme Court decision in National Irish Bank v RTE was welcomed as a mature assessment of these competing legal (and political) claims.