Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform

Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed)

5:10 pm

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Maybe so, but Mr. Hammond was the expert witness making this argument, not me. I am simply reminding the Minister of what Mr. Hammond said. He made the point that what the Minister, I or a majority here might consider to be vexatious might be considered very important by the individual making the request. He stated that we should not second-guess the individual's right to gain access to that information. The point Mr. Hammond is making is that the notion of the vexatious requester is so problematic that we should not use it at all.

Mr. Hammond stated that there is no evidence that if there is no provision blocking so-called vexatious requests, there would be a massive avalanche of so-called vexatious requests. Therefore, the presumption should be one of free access to information. Mr. Hammond, the expert witness called in by the committee, was absolutely spot-on in that regard. The clause should be removed because its interpretation is too subjective.

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