Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 4, to delete lines 27 and 28.

This amendment seeks to take the discretionary power from the Minister to make decisions on what can and cannot be done as far as the release of these documents is concerned. It seeks to increase their transparency in the public interest in order that no one in government would be able to decide which documents were not suitable for public scrutiny. The purpose of the amendment is simply to make the system more transparent and less opaque. This is a good Bill, but at many stages the Minister has the power to make a decision on whether documents should be released. That creates a situation where the Minister will have a get out of jail clause if the release of documents is not politically suitable to the Government.