Ms Emily O'Reilly:

The following is common to most of these. Certainly, there are interests that needs to be protected, but the public interest also needs to be protected. Certain areas are obviously sensitive for practitioners and people going before them. In a lot of areas dealt with in the report the various Departments want black and white certainty. They want to know certain things will not be released under any circumstances. There is sometimes a reluctance to trust in the ability of someone like me or anybody else to make a call that is genuinely in the public interest and does not do harm.

In my introduction I said that the FOI Act is not there to do harm. I am mindful of all the interests at stake in any decision I make. I can honestly say that in the past ten years I have been Information Commissioner no ruling of mine has caused any particular harm. It is always down to a matter of trust. The fact that the FOI legislation is being amended and would appear to be more liberal and progressive points to the fact that there is a greater concern for the public interest, possibly arising out of events in the country over the past number of years, and that the private interests of individuals sometimes need to be challenged a little more robustly in regard to the overall public interest at play.