Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would like to wrap up by returning to a couple of points. I found the latter part of Mr. Hammond's contribution very interesting. Representatives of the National Union of Journalists appeared before the committee earlier to discuss this module and had their own observations to make. It would be very much associated with a campaign to loosen up, or broaden, aspects of the Freedom of Information Act. One of the proposals at which we looked was the concept of a register user fee, in order that one could have accredited or non-accredited or associated or non-associated journalists who might be freelancers able to operate under one umbrella to engage with the freedom of information service.

To return to Mr. Hammond's biscuit comment, it must be acknowledged that, at times, the media engage with the Freedom of Information Act for commercial purposes. It is not always about extrapolating information and asking questions about how many biscuits have been bought in the borough of Manchester or Liverpool. It might make an interesting headline on the front page of a newspaper tomorrow morning, but is it really serving the public interest and should local authorities charge for finding the information?

Ultimately, as has been the case in Ireland, the paradox of the freedom of information debate among the media is if we were to drop all the barriers to allow the media to get information they want, it would create a strange environment because much exclusive commentary in print or broadcast media comes from freedom of information requests that allow journalists and newspapers to get the jump on one another.