Who Told Yas

The Irish Times reported, before the recent election, that Bertie Ahern had accepted payments when he was the finance minister. It was the opinion of the editor, Ms. Geraldine Kennedy, that the news was of public interest. It was the opinion of the Mahon Tribunal investigating Mr. Ahern's cash transactions that the newspaper was breaking the law.

The back and forth between journalists and lawyers ran up to the High Court, which is about to rule on an issue that has blossomed into a freedom of the press question. Who told yas about the money? asked the tribunal. All documents and records destroyed, so? Can you not just tell the world it wasn't us what done the talking?

What happens in the tribunal stays in the tribunal, at least until they issue their official report. In this case, with the election looming and Mr. Ahern set to claim a third term as taoiseach, the Irish Times got its ink-stained fingers on things that were being said to Mr. Mahon et al. Front page news, that, but someone broke the law when they leaked the story. Someone else implied that it was the tribunal itself what done the leaking, to damage Fianna Fail in the election.

The tribunal's lawyers have asked that Ms. Kennedy and Mr. Keena be made to speak, largely because the tribunal wants it known that they did not, as rumored, supply the bones of the story. Lawyers for the journalists have argued that they must remain silent because no reporter wants to impugn their source. Who'd ever talk to an Irish Times journalist again? Every confidential source would migrate over to the Independent, and that would be the end.

Will Ms. Kennedy and Mr. Keena be confined at Arbour Hill or the 'Joy until they break? Will the High Court decide that freedom of the press extends its protective arm around them? Reporters everywhere will be watching the proceedings closely.