Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I come to these exempted agencies from a different position from Deputy Fleming. Amendment No. 85 proposes a simple deletion of the exempted agencies set out in Part 2. The list is lengthy: An Post, Bantry Bay Harbour, Bord Gáis Éireann, Bord na Móna, Bus Éireann and Irish Water. There are matters that would be commercially sensitive attached to the commercial mandate of these bodies, which should be exempted from FOI. That is reasonable; however, none of these bodies should have a blanket exemption from FOI. They should be included and when requests impinge on matters that are demonstrably commercially sensitive, or damaging to that body's commercial mandate in the case of the commercial semi-states, an exemption should apply. It is not good practice to give them a blanket exemption. From the discussions we have had around this issue, many matters hinged on the Minister's correct concern about commercial sensitivity and competitive tensions between State bodies and private operators. All of that is legitimate, but he could have catered for that concern not by granting a blanket exemption but by setting out circumstances that relate to those commercial sensitivities and the commercial mandate and allowing exemptions in those circumstances only.