Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

That is a matter of opinion and the Minister cannot guarantee it, confident as he may be. I hope he realises we need more than good will. We need a guarantee to convince us that the Freedom of Information Act will apply to the board from the date of its establishment. If he cannot guarantee this, he should accept the amendment.

We all agree that what the Bill proposes is desirable but we must question how it is to be achieved. Having tabled this amendment and sought to have it accepted on Committee Stage and Report Stage, there is no guarantee, in spite of all the good will, that what I set out to achieve will happen. This is no reflection on the Minister but it would reflect badly on us all, as legislators, if we did not ensure we made watertight an aspect of the legislation that we all agree is highly desirable.

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