Ferns report: publication and availability

Liam Reid
The Ferns report is the first official inquiry report in recent years that has not been made available in electronic format, and cannot be downloaded from the internet.

On Tuesday the Government took a decision, based on legal advice from Attorney General Rory Brady, that the report would be made available only in traditional hard-copy format.

The report has been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. This means it is a privileged document and that individuals cannot sue the Government in this State on the grounds that they were defamed or libelled in it.

The Attorney General's advice related to legal concerns that the report does not have the same privilege in other jurisdictions, and that publishing the report on the internet could leave open the possibility that people named or identified in it could sue the Government in another country.

The Government has to date printed 3,000 copies of the Ferns report, 200 of which have now been sold.

The 271-page report is available through the Government Publications Office in Molesworth Street, Dublin, and at four bookshops in Co Wexford, priced ?6.