Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman but I am entitled to another minute. Last week I pointed out that section 42(j) of the Freedom of Information Bill 2013 provides that the Bill does not apply to documents "given by a [freedom of information] body to a member of the Government or a Minister of State for use by him or her for the purposes of any proceedings in either House of the Oireachtas or any committee of either or both of such Houses or any subcommittee of such a committee". This section essentially states that the Government thinks lobbying, one of the most underhand activities in modern politics, should go unchecked, running counter to what the Government desires. The truth is that policymaking does not and should not take place in a vacuum. There is too much at stake and far too many people are affected by the Government's decisions. The Minister has brought in a new freedom of information Bill which, if truth were told, is about hiding how Government operates rather than revealing how it operates.

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