Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

At the risk of annoying committee members, I would like to go through this list, because creating an exempt list in legislation is a very serious thing to do. In the Minister's response I would like him to explain why they should be exempt and what principles are at stake. Commercial sensitivity may be one of them, but are there others? What is the full list of reasons for any organisation to be exempt? If and when there is a legitimate argument for commercial sensitivity, is there not some other provision in the legislation under which a body can claim commercial sensitivity? Let us say a body is not on this list but an FOI request is made where there are legitimate grounds for claiming commercial sensitivity. Does that apply somewhere else? Could the Minister point to that or tell us if there is any provision other than this list?

I disagree with Deputies Fleming and McDonald on the competitiveness of State-owned organisations. It is unfair on the companies competing with State-owned organisations. I have asked Dublin Bus for very reasonable passenger flow information regarding very disruptive changes it was making to bus services in Wicklow and it hid behind commercial sensitivity, which seems to be what it would do. Dublin Bus was most unhelpful. If a private operator can operate a Dublin Bus route at exactly the same level of service to the public but at a lower cost to the State and the citizen, that is good. The public gets the same service and the cost to the taxpayer decreases. I know that is not a universally shared view. Such information is useful. A private bus company is trying to compete with a State-subsidised entity. That is not fair or reasonable. Could the Minister outline why these are exempt? Nothing should be exempt. There is real commercial sensitivity in some cases. Is that not contained somewhere else in the legislation?