Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is the element of practicality, public administration, costs and the general public good. We all have rights, but we must site things in the general public good. I am advised that it is very rarely used. If this section was to be used in the future, the individual would have the right of appeal to the independent authority - the Office of the Information Commissioner. If the individual was not satisfied at that stage, he or she could have the matter adjudicated on by the courts. We have a very open system of public administration. If this is a rare issue, we need to provide for it, but that it would never arise is not a reasonable conclusion to reach. There must be protections for the general good where it does arise. If there is a situation where a section might be abused, that is why we have the checks and balances of the appeals mechanisms throughout this process.