Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I am sorry but I have not finished. The information officer will be trained and will work to an agreed code. It is important to say that there has been a huge disparity of interpretation. That has worked against applicants both from the general public and the media because different agencies and Departments had slightly different interpretations of FOI. One of the things I have said from the very beginning and on which we have worked in the drafting of the legislation is that we must have a parallel code of conduct so that every information officer knows what is expected, that they are all trained properly and as the Deputy will have seen there is a requirement in the legislation on Departments and agencies to train staff. They will work on a common basis and that will greatly improve the handling of requests, the certainty of the applicant, the way Departments and agencies deal with requests and have consistency across the system which is important.