Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the points being made by the Deputies that the role of the FOI central policy unit, which now exists in my Department, needs to be enhanced in terms of establishing, supporting and securing compliance with good practice in public bodies. We will be producing the code of practice. I will lay it before the committee and we will discuss it. Members will, no doubt, be talking in due course with representatives of other Departments to ensure that everyone is familiar with the guidelines. A strong, authoritative leadership role by the FOI central policy unit is critical to ensure the system works. The mandate of the unit must be to develop the policy and guide and inform public bodies as to its implementation. That is the intention. The code of practice is being developed in tandem with the Bill, as I stated. It will go to the Government in the first instance and then to the Oireachtas, where it can be discussed in detail.

Deputy Fleming's amendment proposes to establish a database to include all information released under the Act. A review of the implementation of FOI was carried out in that context and consideration was given during that review to the publication of all records released. I thought about whether we should require it to be released. There are various views on the matter. Many journalists who obtain information under FOI regard it as their own and use it selectively, sometimes weeks or months later. It is a matter of debate whether the information obtained should all be published at the same time on its release. Whether that is appropriate is a matter for debate.

As of now various Departments have different views on it. I provided in the Bill for a draft code of practice which I will shortly bring to the Government. This will ensure consistency. Deputies know I have appointed a chief information officer, Bill McCluggage, to oversee a tracking system to ensure we have a handle, in a publicly accessible way, on how the freedom of information regime is working. We can do this administratively and we do not need legislative changes, or a data manager as such, as recommended by the Deputies.