Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Having held the office, in fairness I suppose the point made by Deputy Ó Caoláin should receive due consideration. If records were available under the FOI Act and are now held by new bodies not in the existing orders I am sure the Minister for Finance will examine the logic of having people in the new agencies competent to deal with the matter. This may involve a short period of training people and acquainting them with what is required and in due course bringing them into the FOI regime. I do not see any reason this should not be the case.

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