Allister calls for full publication of all documentation
04 February 2010
TUV Leader Jim Allister, himself a QC, has questioned why the entire Opinion of Paul Maguire QC has not yet been published and the very important instructions on which it was based. “So far”, said Mr Allister “all we have is the self-serving affirmation by Mr Robinson that no breaches of the Ministerial Code were found, but the terms and basis of that conclusion have been kept secret. Whether any caveats or conditions attach to the advice we do not know.”
In a statement Mr Allister said:-
“The DUP says Mr Robinson is "very keen that the advice can be released in as transparent and complete a form as possible" but there are "a number of legal impediments" to this course of action. I challenge this assertion. The only impediment is the legal privilege which attaches to the Opinion, but that belongs to Mr Robinson. So, he can waive it. Counsel has no privilege which requires to be waived. Thus, the DUP should stop hiding behind make-believe ‘impediments’.
“It is not, of course, just the Opinion which requires to be published, but the entire instructions from the client on which it was based. Without these the Opinion is incomplete. I note Mr Robinson himself has said that the ‘vindication’ is based on “on the material provided”. Well what is that material? That is the key. Remember, it appears the public is paying for the advice sought so, we the public should see it, all of it. Mr Robinson can secure full publication, so why has he not done so?
“I would also ask if in the process of formulating this Opinion any surplus material held by the BBC, which was not broadcast, was requested and examined? Initially, when Mr Robinson announced he was seeking legal opinion it was spun as ‘independent investigation’. As I said at the time* seeking counsel’s opinion comes no where close to ‘independent investigation’, but just how investigatory was this exercise? Or, as I suspect, was it merely a regular counsel’s opinion whose boundaries were set by the material provided?
“Yes, it is time for transparency, full transparency on this issue, which we certainly have not had up to now.”
* http://www.jimallister.eu/default.asp?blogID=1827
