The news had been given to Beattie on Saturday 17 December; Beattie expected to be invited to attend Parliament when it was formally made public but was not. He was in his auctioneer's office in High Street, Omagh when newspaper reporters told him that he had been disqualified. The Select Committee report was published on Monday 19 December 1955, although the disqualification did not formally come into effect until the House of Commons accepted the Select Committee report, on 7 February 1956.