Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the issue. My understanding is that the change arises from a ruling by the Information Commissioner following a freedom of information process that ultimately made its way to his desk for a decision. It is a decision that was made by him and one that we have to comply with and be consistent with. I should make the point that we are doing a review of the freedom of information Acts. We have commenced an initial scoping exercise, on which there has been very strong engagement. We have received around 300 submissions already. It will be a comprehensive review that will run well into next year and will ultimately shape proposals that I will bring to Government and hopefully, to the committee. I know that members of the committee and other Opposition parties are interested in bringing forward proposals in this area. That particular issue will be examined as part of the review. However, my understanding is that currently, we have a ruling from the Information Commissioner and we are essentially bound by it. If we are to revert to publishing information at the level of the individual, it raises the question of where to draw the line. Do we publish the pension information of retired senior civil servants and retired members of An Garda Síochána or the health service, or is it just politicians that we are interested in? That is a question that we need to answer if we are seeking to address the issue in legislation.