As the House is aware, I ordered an immediate investigation, by the Director of the CSO and the Secretary of the Department of Finance, of allegations that the mid-November Consumer Price Index figures had been leaked in advance of publication. The findings of their investigations have been published in a statement issued last Friday, 25 January, copies of which have been placed before both Houses of the Oireachtas.
Briefly, the Stock Exchange authorities informed the Secretary of the Department of Finance that there was no indication that any part of the market was particularly or unusually active on the day in question and that there was nothing which would allow them to conclude that there was evidence that advantage was taken of the information in question. It must be concluded that no significant use, if any, was made of the information in question.
I reject the suggestion that this country's reputation internationally has been damaged by this incident but Deputies who propagate that idea are themselves more likely to cause damage to our reputation.
I did not consider that it would be possible for the Garda to add to the investigation already conducted.
The premature disclosure of such sensitive official information is most regrettable. I have, therefore, taken action to prevent any possibility of its recurrence by having sensitive periodic economic statistics calculated and published in future only after the Stock Exchange has closed at 5 p.m. This will mean that there cannot be a recurrence of the events of last December. This new procedure will operate henceforth.