Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We all understand what "frivolous" and "vexatious" mean. I accept the Minister's important point that we are not all hearing from serious freedom of information people that this is something that is being abused. None the less, given Deputy Creed's point, in individual cases an information officer somewhere could abuse something that is open to interpretation. I was thinking about the example used by the Minister of a person who has stated that they will oppose every planning application. We deal with similar wonderful characters in Wicklow. Even though they have stated they will do this, is the Minister saying we are going to deny them the right they have as a citizen to do this because we do not think they are serious about it and, in fact, they have said they are doing it for reasons we do not deem to be correct or appropriate. On that basis, I wonder if we are not entering dangerous territory by denying them the rights that other citizens have.