Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I have quite a number of observations and will ask the Minister to read specifically what I have to say. I will be proposing a number of amendments on Committee Stage.

The Minister has published new legislation on what he calls the restoration and extension of freedom of information. He has made a number of claims about the benefits of the new legislation. Legislation on freedom of information needs to be updated regularly and in this regard, the initiative of the Minister is welcome. There are a number of important changes to the legislation, but there are some clear omissions from the Minister's proposals. I will deal with the latter at length.

In July 2012 I proposed during Private Members' time the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012. It included provisions to extend the scope of freedom of information legislation to the administrative functions of the Central Bank of Ireland, NAMA, the NTMA, the administrative functions of An Garda Síochána, the Health and Safety Authority, the Property Registration Authority, the Road Safety Authority and educational committees. In my legislation I proposed a cap on search and retrieval fees. I was very pleased last July when the Minister agreed to allow a Second Stage reading of the legislation. I am very pleased that he accepted the principle of what I was saying through the legislation. Quite a few of those principles are incorporated in the Bill before us. My legislation will now lapse because we are dealing with that of the Minister, but much of what I said is included in his.

On 6 July 2012 the Minister tabled an amendment to the motion for the Second Reading stating:

noting the intention of the Government, as committed in the programme for Government:-- to legislate to restore freedom of information;

Those were the Minister's words last year. He has referred to restoring freedom of information for quite some time in the House. He has done so on several occasions today and almost on every occasion on which he has spoken on freedom of information in the past 12 months. His statement on restoring freedom of information is extraordinary. One would almost believe there has been no freedom of information in Ireland for the past decade considering that the Minister stands up time and again to say he wants to restore freedom of information.

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