Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

I know they do, but I am referring to the Taoiseach's argument and I thought he would be the best person to answer a question on his own argument. On the basis of the number of requests reducing from 139 in 2003 to 45 in 2004, I thought he would explain such a reduction if it had nothing to do with the fees.

In reply to a parliamentary question in November, the Taoiseach said he had received 40 requests of which 20 were granted and no records were held in respect of nine. Are they explained in some official term as relating to matters for which no records existed because they had never existed or have the records gone missing? Is sanction applied in cases where information is sought and the records are mysteriously missing? This happens at county council level, where letters on a planning file may go missing. It has happened very seriously in the case of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital where patients looked for their records, many of which had gone missing or were tampered with. Does sanction exist under the legislation or elsewhere to prevent the spiriting away of records for fear they might be sought?

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