Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is correct in the sense that this welcome and overdue legislation will fix restrictions introduced in the past, while extending its remit to the National Asset Management Agency. However, we also need to move beyond the culture where people need to submit freedom of information requests to obtain information. While the Department is doing significant work in this regard in terms of the information it makes available on its website, this approach is not replicated across the public sector. This issue must be addressed.

The Minister is correct that when people have to submit freedom of information requests to extract information from government, it has implications. Unfortunately, however, this is the case for many people. To cite one example, members of my local authority and the public are not privy to the contents of the contract for a pay parking scheme in my home town. We are consistently informed that this is a commercially sensitive matter. While I am sure that it the case in respect of certain aspects of the contract, it is unacceptable that democratically local representatives and citizens are not granted access to such contracts. Local authorities, in particular, tend to use a broad brush of commercial sensitivity. Similarly, citizens and public representatives have not been allowed to view the contract for a public private partnership to develop a harbour. The Minister needs to examine how local authorities behave in this regard.

To pick up on and extend a point made by Deputy McDonald on retrieval costs, I am very sceptical that the level of the retrieval costs for freedom of information requests indicated are the actual costs. I am also sceptical about the costs associated with parliamentary questions. Certain set costs apply to administration and should not be added when providing information. This issue needs to be examined.

Another issue to be examined is the manner in which records are maintained in the public sector. Some of the retrieval costs and difficulty in retrieving information is due to the failure to keep good records, particularly in local authorities. In other words, the agencies involved must try to dig out the information requested. It would make a significant difference if they maintained the information in a more transparent and accountable manner.

I echo Senator Sean Barrett's point in that it does not sit comfortably that commercial semi-State companies are automatically excluded from freedom of information legislation. On the one hand, bus companies and so forth are seeking bailouts involving significant sums of public money while, on the other, they are stonewalling in the matter of answering questions. The Freedom of Information Act is a tool for obtaining information in cases where semi-State companies refuse to answer questions at parliamentary committees. This issue should be noted.