Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Deering makes an interesting point because people who regularly make FOI requests would say that there are differences in how different public bodies respond to such requests. I will not name these but this is something that is very much seen as a given.

One other thing that Mr. Deering said there is that there is the culture of champions championing the importance of FOIs, which is something that people go above and beyond in their own work to ensure that is the case. How will Mr. Deering, in a practical sense, try to move away from that culture of relying on individual champions towards it being something that people realise is very important and want to assist with? This is my first question.

My other question on the FOI issue is that Mr. Deering welcomes and was glad in respect of the eventual giving of jurisdiction to the Ombudsman’s office over complaints from people living in direct provision and that this will form an important area of work for the office. Does he have the data on how many complaints were received by this office by people in direct provision, which would be of some interest and is very important?

He stated that he wants to have a strong focus on ensuring that the voices of people who might otherwise be missed or not heard are responded to. How is he hoping to do that in a practical sense?

I have one further question on the protected disclosures Bill, also, Chairman, if I may also have time to come in on that, please.