Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A number of the amendments in this group are in my name. As the Minister knows, we discussed some of them on Committee Stage. Some of them are not quite new. Amendment No. 37 seeks to "make provision for the establishment of a database to include all information released under the Act" and to provide that "such database shall be made available to the public" to easily obtain. I am asking that this be done "within 12 months on the enactment of this Act".

Amendment No. 38 seeks to ensure that each of the many freedom of information bodies "shall ensure that all staff employed by that body dealing with FOI requests shall be provided with adequate training". I think everyone will agree that this is needed. I am aware that a code of practice and certain procedures will be developed. I am asking for a firm commitment that this will actually be done.

Amendment No. 80 proposes that "“The Minister shall, within 3 months of the enactment of this Act, draw up and publish a code of practice". We need to see that. I am putting a timeline on it because I do not like to see these matters drifting. Given that this legislation will have to go through the Seanad in the autumn, I presume we will be into next year before it is enacted. I would like to see a timeline on the code of practice.

Amendment No. 81 proposes that the code of practice provided for in amendment No. 80, which calls for the code to be introduced within three months, "shall include provisions to promote the publication of official and other information". I want to replace the word "may", which is in the Bill as it stands, with the word "shall" because it is more definitive. I always worry about the word "may" because it leaves open the idea that something may not be done. I want to make the promotion of the publication of information compulsory because, as the Minister will be aware, public officials have statutory protection if they release something through freedom of information. They do not have that protection if they release information other than through freedom of information. There can be a lacuna if information is released in such circumstances.

As a Member of this House, I have had experience in this regard with different Departments over the years. I do not recall a particular case. I have often made a request for specific information on a certain topic to be sent to me, only to be advised by an official that I should submit a freedom of information request, or get the person on behalf of whom I am making the inquiry to submit a freedom of information request, so that the information in question can be released promptly under freedom of information. Some Departments are good at releasing information promptly, but others are not so good at it, perhaps because they are not comfortable with the process or they are concerned that some issue might arise down the road if the information is released other than through freedom of information. I am trying to get rid of that type of culture and make sure provision "shall" be made for the promotion the publication of official and other information.

Many new bodies have come under the aegis of the Freedom of Information Acts in recent times. More of them will be covered by freedom of information as time goes by. I hope most of the new bodies will be covered. Irish Water has eventually come around to that point of view. There is still a culture of not releasing information, however. Local authorities are notorious for not releasing it. I will give a little example. I tried to search the websites of local authorities to find details of licences issued for public events. That information is not available on most local authority websites. They do not even have a link. There are sections on planning, planning queries, planning exemptions and county development plans, but there is nothing about licences that have been issued.

Hundreds of thousands of people will attend events like the National Ploughing Championships and the Electric Picnic that are to be held in my home county in the coming months. Information on these public events should be publicly available. I have been told that managerial orders are meant to be public, but they are not public. They are probably in a ledger in the bottom drawer of a desk in the office of some staff member or manager somewhere. One would probably need a code to access some of these documents. It is like the third or fourth secret of Fatima. People will say they are available in theory to be inspected, but they cannot be found or accessed. I have never seen a register of managerial orders published. I do not see it on local authority websites.

This level of secrecy also seems to apply to tender documents, for example, when houses are being built. I will give an example. When some houses were being built in my constituency, a list of tenders was published. A list is normally issued to every company that has made a tender application so that it knows where its price stands by comparison with the other prices that were received. That list does not seem to be publicly available even though millions of euro in public money is spent on various schemes, such as those involving the construction of schools and roads. It is difficult to get information from the National Roads Authority about major roads projects. I am not talking about the secrecy that attaches to some commercial aspects of public private partnerships. I am talking about trying to get information from public bodies.

My view is that, in general, public bodies would not provide information if they were not forced to do so and would not make decisions if they were not legally required to do so within a certain timeframe. Decisions would never be made on some planning applications if a legal timeframe did not apply. They are decided on only because there is a legal timeframe. There must be a legal mechanism to promote the publication of official and other information. The Minister might take on board the generality of what I am saying here now. When one asks public bodies for information, such as a list of the licences that were issued in a certain county or a list of the prices that were received from tenders that were opened, they almost ask why one wants to know such details.

They might not say that but that is the attitude. I am not referring to the people in my county with whom I have an excellent relationship, but it is across the board. With regard to the Health Service Executive, I will not even go there. If one tries to get information through a parliamentary question, it is referred to the HSE and about six weeks later, which I believe is its normal timescale, one receives a letter. The person about whom one is inquiring could be dead or alive at that stage, but that is how it operates.

Publishing information, and I am not talking about personal information, is not yet fully ingrained in the public service. I hope this measure will help, but it will take more than this Bill. It will take the Minister's code of practice to force it through, and that is why I inserted the word "shall". I will not go to the wire on the word "shall" versus "may" but am merely making my point.

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