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GAZETTE
JULY/AUGUST 1982
ter kept by the Local Authority under Section 8(3) and (4)
ofthe Local Government (Planning and Development) Act
1963, the Appeal documents submitted to an Board Plean-
ala under article 3 9 ofthe Planning and Development Regu-
lations 1977 (confined to parties to the Appeal) and the
Register kept pursuant to Section 3(8) of the Sanitary
Services Act, 1964. A particularly persuasive indication
on the right of inspection is contained in Section 27 of the
County Management Act, 1940. This list is illustrative
rather than exhaustive.
It is a canon of interpretation of Statutes that they be
interpreted in a manner best calculated to serve the public
interest and it is not necessarily true that the public interest
would be served by an indiscriminate examination of the
documents of Local Authorities by members of the public;
indeed, the wholesale exercise of such a right might well
bring Local Government to a virtual standstill.
The Supreme Court in
Re Fitzgerald
[1925] 1 I.R. 39
held that the Register of Lands was a public document of
which there was a right of inspection and this decision is in
accord with the public interest in land transactions. As a
corollary, only those documents in the hands of a Local
Authority which would be described as public documents
ought to be available for inspection and Statutes have
clearly prescribed specific documents in the custody of a
Local Authority as being public documents and available
for inspection. Routine files in the care ofa Local Authority
could scarcely be regarded as such.
To sum up, the internal indication contained in the
Application of Enactments Order, 1898, the Enabling Act
and the English Act of 1894 applied by the Order, coupled
with the existence of a series of Statutes passed both prior
and subsequent to the 1898 legislation conferring rights to
inspect specific documents only and all read in the light of
the public interest test, constitute a persuasive argument
that Article 19(4) of the 1898 Order does not confer on the
public a general right to inspect documents of Local
Authorities but confers such a right in fiscal matters only
and that, accordingly theright of the public to inspect such
documents must be ascertained by consulting specific
Statutes and Statutory Orders relating to specific spheres of
Local Administration.
Reporting on Meetings
Attendance of the press at meetings of Local Authorities
is regulated under the:
(a) Local Government (Ireland) Act 1902, section
15:
(b) Order dated 9th February 1903 of the Local
Government Board for Ireland.
(c) Standing Orders of individual Local Authorities:
Section 15 of the 1902 Act reads as follows:-
"No resolution of any council, board or commission-
ers to exclude from its meetings representatives ofthe
press shall be valid unless sanctioned by the Local
Government Board in pursuance of byelaws, which
the Local Government Board are hereby empowered
to frame, regulating the admission of the representa-
tives of the press to such meetings."
The L. G.B. order of 9th February 1903 appears in the
appendix to this paper.
The power conferred by section 61 of the Local
Government Act 1955 on the Minister for the Environ-
ment* to make regulations in relation to meetings has not
been operatedbecause the section has not been brought into
force.
Journalists are, therefore, entitled to be present at a
meeting of a Local Authority on production of written
credentials from the editor unless there exists a resolution of
that Local Authority, sanctioned by the Minister for the
Environment, to exclude them. Ifattendance ofthe press at
meetings is likely to be an issue editors might consider
writing to theirLocal Authorities stating that their reporters
will attend and asking ifthere exists a resolution ofthe Local
Authority to exclude representatives of the press which
resolution has been properly sanctioned by the Minister for
the Environment or his predecessors. It must be doubtful if
sanction for any such resolution newly sought at this time
would be forthcoming from the Minister.
It is the right of a Local Authority to go into committee
that is the nub of the problem. If members of a Local
Authority wish to discuss matters in the absence of the
press, their proper course is to refer them to a committee. Ifa
decision of the full Council is necessary, the committee's
recommendation will have to be brought back to the Coun-
cil and become the subject of a resolution which will appear
on the agenda. The press does not have a right to attend
meetings of committees.
The not infrequent practice of a Council to resolve to go
into committee, immediately to discuss the matter or speci-
fic item which they do not want the press to report and then
return to an open forum situation is ofquestionable legality
as a method of setting aside the journalists' right to be
present and to report the proceedings. In fact, ofcourse, the
elected representatives and the press rub along happily in.
this matter of not reporting sensitive items because all per-
ceive that the public interest is best served by not reporting
the matter in the press — certainly not in detail with
individual councillors named.
Ifa newspaper adopts a "publish and be damned" stance
on a matter discussed by a full local assembly on an
occasion where its members had resolved to go into com-
mittee the question ofqualified privilege is underscored and
could become of critical importance to the newspaper:
further, the editor must know that he may shatter the
existing relationship and throw both press and Local
Authority into adopting strict legal positions.
Standing Orders of each Local Authority must be
studied by the editor and his reporters. Standing Orders
vary but those of Dublin Corporation must not be -seen as
restrictive of the press, a fact which can be seen from the
following extracts:
14. "A copy ofevery Report to be submitted to the Coun-
cil shall, before the submission of the Report, be
transmitted at the same time to every Member of the
Council, and to the editor ofevery Daily, Evening and
Sunday newspaper published in Dublin, and also to
the radio and television authorities."
46. "Unless when the Council, by Resolution, otherwise
determines, visitors and representatives of the Press
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