Mr. Gavin Sheridan:

I am using that loosely. However, the Minister admitted that an analysis has never been done here. No analysis has ever actually been carried out to ascertain how much the fee structure costs. On balance, it is a punitive charge and seems to constitute a block to members of the public. They do not have cheque books and are not used to printing out stuff. They cannot just send an e-mail asking for information. This is a huge issue because the upfront €50 fee has no net benefit. When I send in the €15 to a Department, on its arrival the officials could simply burn it, as the cost of administering the cheque is lost in the actual processing thereof. It is important to note that were there an allowance for electronic submission and were the €15 fee to be removed to allow this to happen, the public would have greater participation in democracy. I also made the point in my submission that arguably, under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, I have a right to freedom of expression. In recent rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, a connection has been made to the right to freedom of expression under Article 10. How can one have full freedom of expression unless one has access to information? This connection has been made in a couple of court cases and my argument is that in a way, the infringement of my rights to information also is an infringement of my rights to freedom of expression.