Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I support the amendments proposed by Deputies Bruton and Boyle. It is fortunate the House is taking Report Stage of this Bill in the aftermath of what we now know as a result of the Morris report, the Travers report, the ongoing information which is slowly but surely emerging about the national aquatic centre and the structures adopted to give a €62 million public asset to a company originally registered in the British Virgin Islands with a share capital of €127. What my two colleagues are asking for in their amendments is perfectly reasonable and sensible. It is particularly so in the context of last week's report by the Ombudsman which has shown that the Freedom of Information Act has pretty well collapsed, as this Government intended. With the collapse of freedom of information under the Fianna Fáil — PD Government and the closing of the light, it should be remembered the opening of the concept of accountability in freedom of information was a critical feature of this country beginning to prosper from 1994 onwards. This was a period of opening up and of letting in the light.

The Government proposes in this Bill to shift the power of firing significantly to the senior echelons of public service management, but — this is significant — there is no corresponding provision for public accountability of the performance of those senior Civil Service managers. By closing off the Freedom of Information Act and the right to information, whether by citizens, journalists or by Members of the Dáil, there is a concentration of power without accountability in the hands of Ministers and in particular in the hands of senior Civil Service managers. I will happily support these amendments.

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