Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 25 May 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Brexit - Recent Developments and Future Negotiations: Discussion (Resumed)

10:00 am

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I want to go back to the core of the question. I appreciate everything the witness has said and I appreciate the rationale with which we are familiar in terms of the freedom of information legislation.

I am not questioning the adjudication on the FOI legislation. I did not appeal it because I understand the rationale. The point I am making is that this is a finance committee of the Oireachtas and we are dealing with this issue. We are having our own deliberations and conducting our own scrutiny. I put it to Mr. Cody that dozens of documents were produced, some at the end of October 2016 and some only a matter of weeks ago. I cannot imagine that they were produced by low-ranking officials because they have been sent on as presentations to Government Departments and Ministers but Revenue is keeping this committee in the dark with regard to the nature of those documents. We are having a discussion here without all of the required information because Revenue believes it could possibly be harmful for Members of the Oireachtas, who are scrutinising these issues, to have the full information. Why is it that we, as Oireachtas Members, would not be provided with these presentations?