Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The point to make on freedom of information is that the idea that some issues require freedom of information requests does not suggest that people are unduly secretive about the information that is available. The nature of some of the requests under the Freedom of Information Act is by definition personal or confidential; those requests may relate to the health records of the individual seeking them. The idea of the Freedom of Information Act is to make what would normally be confidential, such as personal records, available to citizens as and if they require. Therefore, that fact that one must make a freedom of information request to get the information is good; it should not be something that is available in the normal way.

Information obtained through the channel of freedom of information legislation is appropriately dealt with in that way; it is not appropriate simply to put everything up on a website. There is personal and confidential information, and there is information that is more general. Issues of general policy and general reporting requirements can be provided on a website and should be available. It does not stop Deputies who table parliamentary questions or people making freedom of information requests using those opportunities even though that information might now be available in other formats for people to look for it or to check the websites. One cannot legislate for every person's personal preference on how they want to obtain information.

The fact that we do not have any real parameters for parliamentary questions means that many parliamentary questions are diverted for the purpose of being answered. Some are important and some are of lesser importance. Some can be provided for by way of ordinary correspondence if statistical information is required. As we know, the preference of Deputies is for the limited timeframe in which a parliamentary question has to be replied to, as it gives them access to the information more speedily than through a normal correspondence process. Again, it is a question of us using the privileges we have as Members in a way that is appropriate and not in a way that would be wasteful of taxpayers' money.

We cannot legislate for that. It is an entitlement people have and a discretion that some use wisely and others, I would suggest, less wisely.

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