Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Securing greater public access to official information has a critical role to play in strengthening the openness, transparency and accountability of the Irish administrative and political system. The reform of the freedom of information legislation and its extension to all public bodies is therefore a central pillar of this Government’s political reform agenda. In its July decision on freedom of information the Government endorsed the principle that the Freedom of Information Act would be expected to apply to all public bodies consistent with the original objective of the Act to enable access to information in the possession of public bodies to the greatest extent possible.

Subject to some specific conditions, freedom of information legislation will be extended to a number of high profile public bodies previously entirely outside of the scope of the Act, including An Garda Síochána, public financial bodies, including the NTMA, NAMA, NPRF, and the NDFA, the Central Bank of Ireland, public bodies with important regulatory, quasi-judicial and investigative functions, to include the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Applications Tribunal, as well as vocational educational committees which are key bodies in the education sector. Any limitations to its implementation will apply only in the most exceptional cases where there is a clear public interest in safeguarding particularly highly sensitive and confidential information.

The Government has also agreed to significant reforms to restore freedom of information legislation in the following ways: reversing the very broad definition of Government records introduced in the 2003 amending legislation; curtailing the time period within which Government records cannot generally be considered for release from ten years to five years; restoring the discretion available in specific circumstances to release Government records within five years where they relate, for example, to factual information already in the public domain; prioritising the reduction of very high levels of internal review and appeal fees for non-personal requests; and the liberalisation of the mandatory class exemption put in place in 2003.

I have submitted the general scheme of the freedom of information Bill to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform for its views and recommendations. I believe the committee will have an important role in advising me in that regard and I look forward to hearing such advice. When I hear it I will be able to determine the timeframe for producing the final Bill.

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