The chair of the board of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has told colleagues that breaches of confidentiality have caused "considerable personal distress" to board members during recent events.
Paul Farrell made his comments at the May meeting of the TCD board where members pulled back from introducing new sanctions against those found "leaking" details of discussions from board meetings.
In newly published minutes of the May 22nd board meeting, Mr Farrell said that such sanctions "would provide a mechanism to deal with egregious misbehaviour by board members".
The board meeting took place days after college students ended their five-day protest camp at TCD over the war in Gaza after the university agreed to the demands of the protesting students.
During the "confidentiality breach" discussion, one member stated that the timing of introducing sanctions "so soon after recent events could be viewed negatively by the public", even though the decision had been taken by the board in February to draft rules for consideration.
Separate minutes for TCD’s February board meeting record Mr Farrell raising the issue of board confidentiality "in the context of a recent breach by a board member".
Mr Farrell noted TCD’s statutes contain no sanctions for breaches of confidentiality.
The February board minutes record that “given the potentially serious and damaging consequences resulting from breaches, the Board approved a proposal to request the Registrar to draft proposed sanctions clauses for inclusion in the Statutes and to bring these to a future meeting of the Board for approval”.
The proposed changes to TCD statues appeared on the May board meeting agenda and registrar Prof Neville Cox prepared a memorandum on the matter for consideration and approval.
In the ensuing discussion, one board member stated that there had been numerous breaches of confidentiality over the past four years and TCD provost Dr Linda Doyle, as the then chair of the board, had made several appeals to members and had warned that it would be necessary to put measures in place should breaches continue to occur.
Another contended that breaches of confidentiality have always been a problem and the proposed changes to the Statutes would not provide a solution as it can be difficult if not impossible to identify the source of breaches.
The meeting also heard that breaches of confidentiality "have a chilling effect on free speech and impede proper discussion at board". The board was also told that severe breaches of confidentiality "cannot be ignored and it would not be usual for boards to not have measures in place to deal with such breaches".
Another member said it was vital for trust to be built between board members and this was being undermined by breaches of confidentiality.
The minutes record that Mr Farrell concluded the discussion by acknowledging the sensitivity of introducing sanctions so soon after recent events. He proposed, and the board agreed, that the item would be brought back to a future board meeting for further consideration.
The minutes record that “the board agreed that the discussion around the item should remain strictly confidential”.
