Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I cannot agree with the Minister of State on this matter. The information collated is the address of the person and his or her telephone number, date of birth, qualifications and experience in respect of Civil Defence. Let us say that a member of the local authority was concerned about somebody in his or her community becoming an active member of Civil Defence. That member of the local authority is, on foot of this legislation, precluded from getting access to the information other than by virtue of an approach to the county manager who might or might not be willing to pursue that. I cannot see why we could not vest in a county mayor the same confidence we vest in a county manager or director of services. It seems to be a bridge too far. While we talk about the need to enhance the role and power of local authorities, when it comes to taking legislative steps, we constantly seek to exclude them from as many processes as possible. This is excluding local authority members from access to information which might ultimately be in the interest of the local community.

One could understand a situation where sensitive issues arise, for example, in respect of a Civil Defence member's health, which is not listed in the legislation as something that would be recorded. Were that to arise, I am sure it would be possible to have information that would be somewhat readily available and information that would be retained.