Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is absurd. If the Deputy wants to include the commercial semi-States under FOI legislation, it is a recipe to destroy them. It would certainly disadvantage them. That might be an objective some might have, but it is not one to which I subscribe. The Chairman is right, in that we are not discussing what happened 50 years ago when a unique body was set up for a purpose. Most of the commercial semi-State bodies work in a regulated environment subject to EU competition rules. There is considerably transparency in what they do within the sphere of commercial sensitivity and I do not intend to impose a unique set of further restrictions on them simply because they are State-owned.