Clarification on ‘Grace’ reports: No reason to conceal reports

One of the most frustrating things about trying to move the idea of accountability to the centre of public life is the dance of the seven veils anyone trying to get to the bottom of an important public issue must indulge in to get to something that might, just might, be the truth.

The standard rebuff is the threadbare “we don’t discuss specific cases”. Another old reliable is the one that suggests an issue cannot be discussed because it might be the subject of a Garda investigation. Best of all, of course, is “that matter is sub judice”. End of.

There are sometimes valid reasons for these discretions, but it is hard not to think that these conventions are sometimes too frequently invoked.