The Gazette 1982

JULY/AUGUST 1982

GAZETTE

Local Authorities and the Press Professor Richard Woulfe, Director of Education, Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

A NY examination of the rights of accredited represen- tatives of the media — in their relationship with local authorities in the Republic of Ireland — involves as a corollary an examination of the duties of local authorities towards members of the press. Local Authorities are legal persons and enjoyrights which it is the duty of the press to observe. The press must continuously watch for and guard against infringements of the law by it in the areas of contempt of court, breach of privilege, official secrets and (less likely) blasphemy or obscenity — all seen as breaches of public rights — and in the areas of defamation and copyright — seen as breaches of private rights. The vexed problem of the disclosure or protection of Journalists' sources bridges the gap between these general areas and the specific area of the entitlement ofjournalists to information stemming from or in the hands of local authorities. What then are therights of ajournalist to:- (a) inspect documents of local authorities, and (b) attend and report meetings of local authorities? In respect ofthefirst, it would appear that thejournalist is in no different position from any othermember ofthe public and, further, that there is no general right to inspect docu- ments of local authorities. Specific statutes and pieces of delegated legislation confer such rights in restricted spheres which will be touched on shortly but the very conferring of such rights of inspection by individual pieces of legislation supports the view that there is no general right of inspection. In the sphere of Government, it has always been regard- ed as important that expenditure and revenue should be subjected to public scrutiny. Whether or not this right of public scrutiny in the local authority area goes beyond fiscal matters or is confined to such matters hinges to a large extent on the interpretation of Article 19(4) of the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898. Clause 4 of this article reads:- "Every Local Government Elector in a County or- County District may, at all reasonable times, with- out payment, inspect and take copies of and Extracts from all Books, Accounts and Documents belonging to or under the control of the Council of a County or District." Taken in isolation, this clause would confer on those members of the public whose names appear on the Local Government Register of Electors an un-limited right to inspect and take copies of documents in the possession of a

Local Authority; there are, however indications which suggest that thisright is not un-limited, but is confined to those Books, Accounts and Documents relating to the Audit of the Local Authority's accounts and associated matters. The Enabling Statute for the Application ofEnactments Order, 1898 is the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, Section 104. This Section enabled the Lord Lieutenant by Order in Council to apply to Ireland the English and Scottish Statutes specified in the Fourth Schedule to the 1898 Act and to make the necessary adaptations to those Statutes. Section 104( 1) sets out Fifteen subjects or head- ings in respect of which the English and Scottish statutes might be applied. The 1898 Order takes these subjects heading by heading in the same order as they appear in the Act and Articles 19 to 21 inclusive appear under the heading:- "Accounts, Audit and Annual Budget." The side-note, while admittedly not a part of the Order, reads:- "Making up and Audit of Accounts under the Act of County and District Councils and Inspection of Accounts." The English Act applied by Clause 19 is the Local Government Act, 1894, of which section 58 was applied almost word for word by Article 19 and contains similar wording to Clause 4 ofArticle 19. There does not appear to be any reported Irish decision on the interpretation of Article 19(4) nor on the equivalent provision in the English Act of 1894. Apart from the indications to be drawn directly from the wording ofthe Local Government Acts 1894 and 1898 and the Order of 1898 to the effect that the right of inspection should be treated as a restricted one, other indications exist. A whole series of statutes confer on members of the public or upon certain members of the public rights to inspect specific documents in the hands of Local Authorities. These powers, given by individual Acts, would not be necessary ifa generalrightofinspection existed. One brings to mind the inspection of Valuation Lists, Annual Estim- ates and Acounts, Electoral Registers, Rate Books, Minutes of Council proceedings under the Municipal Cor- porations Act, 1840 (S. 92), List of Advances under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, Inspection of the Regis- The seventh subject in the list is entitled:- "Accounts, Audit and Annual Budget."

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