Mr. Séamus Dooley:

There are two issues there. This is about a culture change. By making information available at the earliest opportunity, particularly using the departmental websites, the making available of such information becomes routine, and therefore no FOI request is needed. I wish the newsrooms were falling down with journalists who would avail of the opportunity to use the new freedom of information legislation but media organisations have decimated many news rooms. We have lost the debate between market share and editorial resources.

I do not anticipate the flood to which the Deputy refers. However, there could be an increase. I am not, as he is aware, a critic of the public service and I do not for one moment believe that the current tendency on the part of some media organisations to attack public servants on a weekly basis or at weekends is good. I do not stand over this. My members only work for the newspapers, they do not own them.