Minister for Children; Equality; Disability; Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman has confirmed to Independent TD Carol Nolan that he will shortly publish the minutes of all meetings of the Interdepartmental Group (IDG) that was established to support the development of referendum proposals on family and care.
The Minister had originally refused a request from Deputy Nolan to publish the meetings prior to the referendum, saying at the time, “In line with the McKenna and McCrystal principles on the use of public funds in a referendum, all papers in the relation to the work of the Interdepartmental Group are precluded from publication until after the referendum votes have taken place.”
However, Deputy Nolan pursued the matter through follow-up parliamentary questions and was today informed that the minutes of the meetings would now be made available, though the minister did not specify when exactly this would take place.
The minister also stated that IDG comprised of representatives from every Government Department, as well as the Office of the Attorney General. It met 16 times over the course of its work in a period spanning March to November.
The Department is also considering whether further material can be published, given the confidentiality of both legal advice received from the Office of the Attorney General and discussions by Government:
“Transparency is something that government should not be afraid of, especially in the context of constitutional referendums where the impact is hugely significant in terms of public policy,2 said Deputy Nolan.
“I welcome the minister’s decision to release the minutes and I look forward, as I am sure many others do, to finally examining these documents that were withheld on deeply spurious grounds,” concluded Deputy Nolan.