Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Where a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act is disallowed and is subsequently successful following an appeal to the Information Commissioner the fees should be refunded. I have two further questions for the Taoiseach.

In 2005, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service met with the Information Commissioner to assess the impact of fees on the Freedom of Information Act. The Taoiseach will recall the report in this regard. The committee subsequently wrote to the Taoiseach, when Minister for Finance, seeking to have the matter addressed as urgently as possible and to have legislation introduced at the first available opportunity. Nothing happened in this regard during the remainder of the Taoiseach's tenure as Minister for Finance or since his successor was appointed. Will the Government consider this formal request from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service for the introduction of legislation arising from its analysis with the Information Commission of the fees' impact on the Freedom of Information Act?

A number of bodies remain outside the freedom of information remit. The Information Commissioner has stated there is no reason the Central Applications Office, the Adoption Board, the State Claims Agency, the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority should remain outside the remit of the Freedom of Information Acts. The Garda Síochána is also mentioned in this regard. I recognise some of those bodies would clearly have sensitive information that could well be outside the remit of a normal request under freedom of information. Does the Taoiseach share the view of the Information Commissioner that some of those should also be included, at least in part, under the Freedom of Information Act and the kind of information which would be of use to the public, without being State-sensitive or whatever, should be included under the Act?

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