Mr. Frank Cullen:

I will make a quick comment after which Ms McDonald will respond. As I have been around for many years I will go back to the original Act. Ireland led the way with the first Freedom of Information Act. Unfortunately we took a retrograde step with the amending Act in 2003. We have slipped down the chart. We welcome the Bill as an attempt to bring us back to where we should be in the international rankings. The spirit of openness and transparency needs to be led from the Government. There is a natural resistance down the line but the leadership must come from the spirit of the Act. We want to be proud of where we rank when it comes to openness, transparency and accountability.