Order to require Haughey evidence

The former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, is to be ordered to continue giving evidence to the Moriarty tribunal.

The chairman, Mr Justice Moriarty, said medical experts engaged by the tribunal who have examined Mr Haughey had found he was "in medical terms fit to give evidence, but that in the circumstances of his health status, special arrangements should be made to mitigate the disabilities from which he suffers".

Mr Justice Moriarty said he would make an order under Section 1 (1)(c) of the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act, 1921, and that Mr Haughey would be examined on oath in private in a private room. The transcripts would then be made public at a later date.

Mr Paul Gardiner, for Mr Haughey, said the views of the tribunal's medical advisers had been given to Mr Haughey's representatives on Wednesday, and his client would like to confer with his medical advisers.

Mr Gardiner agreed it would be appropriate that when the tribunal sat to issue the order against Mr Haughey, counsel for Mr Haughey could make a submission.

In delivering his decision, Mr Justice Moriarty noted that in October Mr Haughey's counsel, Mr Eoin McGonigal SC, said his client was no longer fit to give evidence and that this view was based on a medical report from Mr Peter McLean.

On October 16th Mr McGonigal had said there was no regime which the tribunal could put in place which could accommodate his client's health needs.

A medical report on which this view was based was later handed to the tribunal, the chairman said.

In order to help him evaluate Mr McLean's reports he had sought to obtain access to all the documentary material concerning Mr Haughey's health.

"For reasons which I need not go into at this point, this documentation was not made available to the tribunal, and in those circumstances it became clear that I could not rely exclusively on the medical reports furnished to the tribunal by Mr Haughey's solicitors."

He decided to retain the services of two medical practitioners. He persisted in seeking all medical documents in relation to Mr Haughey, but it had not proved possible.

Examinations of Mr Haughey were conducted for the tribunal by Mr Gordon Williams, a consultant urologist of "international repute" attached to Hammersmith Hospital, London, and Prof Martin Rossor, a consultant neurologist at St Mary's Hospital, London, an "internationally recognised practitioner with a special interest in the fields relevant to Mr Haughey's medical condition".

Each doctor was provided with a background to the tribunal's proceedings and how Mr Haughey's health had become an issue.

"It was indicated to them that the tribunal would have to satisfy itself as to the clinical facts as to the extent to which there may have been any significant deterioration in Mr Haughey's conditions so as to make it impossible for him to give evidence and as to the extent to which he would be capable of coping with giving evidence, bearing in mind that every reasonable step would be taken to mitigate his disabilities."

Mr Haughey will give evidence under a procedure of the High Courts known as "the taking of evidence on commission".

The examination of Mr Haughey in a private room in Dublin Castle would be "no more than a gathering of evidence for the purpose of tendering it to the tribunal for its consideration", Mr Justice Moriarty said.

"The transcript would not be made available to the public unless and until I had determined that the statement of evidence so harvested should be adduced in evidence at the tribunal's public sittings."