Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We do not need to go over all of this again but I wish to make one or two additional points. The Minister's position is clear. He may respond if he wishes. I am not trying to get back into a debate on the issue. The committee recommended in its report that monopoly semi-State providers should have to comply with the rigours of the FOI Bill. I think it is worth pointing that out to colleagues on the committee. That would include Eirgrid and the harbour authorities.

I know that the Minister will not get rid of the lists now. I have thought more about the conversation we had last night about the public good of bringing these bodies in, while protecting the commercial sensitivity, which I fully support, particularly for the monopolies such as the harbours, Eirgrid the airport authorities, local or national monopolies. It was the recommendation of the committee that these would be exposed to FOI, notwithstanding commercial sensitivity. I know that the Minister will not move on it. That is fine but I want to reiterate the idea that in the future it could be considered. The more I thought about the interaction we had, the more I thought that the commercial sensitivity does what it needs to do. There are a few examples in which there is a value in citizens' being able to access information. By way of example, there is one that I deal with in Wicklow, and I will leave it at this. Bus Éireann runs a service with which the Minister is probably familiar because the No.2 bus goes from Wexford to Dublin.

It passes along the road by St. Vincent's Hospital. The company decided to change that part of the route. We contacted the chief executive; he and his office were very helpful and they reversed many of the changes. For example, in the case of the bodies dealing with disabled adults or children in my constituency or the Minister's constituency, there is a public good to those organisations, or the parents of children, being able to seek information about policies on access to health care and disability services that would not be commercially sensitive. The Minister and I argued this point yesterday but I believe there is a potential opportunity to review it at a later date.