Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree, despite their political convictions.

The idea that we are empowered by knowledge is incredibly important. I agree with much of what Deputy Kevin Humphreys said in this regard. In the course of the campaign leading up to tomorrow's referendum to abolish the Seanad, the Government has been criticised for seeking to centralise power. In fact, as we can see from the provisions set out in this legislation, we are trying to do the complete opposite. These proposals seek to give power to the citizens. It is our responsibility to them to give them that freedom of information. That is what we are about here and it is important to acknowledge it.

Deputy Humphreys referred to other reforms introduced by the Government, including the Friday Dáil sittings. Those sittings afforded me the opportunity to introduce legislation on tax transparency, which is another issue we should consider in this context - namely, the right of citizens to information on how the Government is spending their money. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, on the huge amount of work he is doing, through the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, in getting that information out to people. I remain of the view that we should be more proactive in providing it. It is an excellent first step to ensure the information is there should people seek it out, but I would go further by giving every taxpayer an outline of exactly how their contribution was spent in a given year. That was the thrust of the Bill I introduced. Although I have been critical of some of the reforms that have been introduced, the Friday sittings, in particular, have empowered us as parliamentarians to bring forward further reforms and new ideas.

I welcome anything that returns to citizens the power that was taken from them in the past. It is useful to examine what our role as public representatives should be. Is it to include people in the decision-making process, to give them information so that they understand what is going on and, in that way, to bring them with us? Or is it to keep them out of the process and ignorant of what is going on? The latter approach serves nobody's purposes, nor is it within our rights to adopt it. When speaking in this Chamber I try not to criticise former Governments, including members of those Governments who remain Members of this House. On this occasion, however, it must be noted that the need to introduce this legislation is a real indictment of what was allowed to happen in the past in this area of public life. The 2003 amendments to the freedom of information provisions represented a retrograde step which infringed on people's rights. They amounted to a dereliction of duty on the part of those who led this Parliament on behalf of the people. Citizens elect us to represent them on the national issues of the day and to exercise our judgment in making decisions on their behalf. What judgment was it on the part of the politicians at the time who decided that people should be kept ignorant by restricting their access to information? These are basic rights, which could even be classified as human rights in the political sense. We should not have to introduce this legislation to restore people's rights to freedom of information, but it is good that we are. It is especially welcome that those rights are being not only restored but extended. As Deputy Humphreys observed, there is scope to extend them even further. I welcome that process and the opportunity we will have to go further with the legislation in the future, as required. The balance of power is shifting back to citizens in terms of their right to know. In addition, we are seeing improvements in technology all the time which are helping people to access information more easily, and more of it. All the excuses given in the past as to why information could not be given out, including the amount of time and money involved, are falling away. It is all moving in a very positive direction, and the Government has done an incredibly important piece of work in steering us in that direction as best it can.

It comes back to the basic principles of open government and transparency leading to accountability. Everybody wins with this legislation. Deputy Humphreys mentioned the position at local government level, which is an important aspect of this issue. Many local authorities own companies, because that is their way of doing business. However, the freedom of information provisions do not apply to them. I was not aware of this until Councillor Kieran Binchy brought it to my attention, and I subsequently sought clarification from the Minister by way of parliamentary question. This legislation is vital because it will shed new light on an entire area of public work. It is incredibly important that this should happen in the case of local government given that so much of the work done at that level does not make it into the public domain. This legislation gives us an opportunity to ensure that is done.

I welcome the Bill and congratulate the Minister on its introduction.

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