Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We seem to be in a new enlightened period of Irish politics where semi-State bodies will be subjected to openness and transparency. This is supposedly proven by the fact that Irish Water will be covered by the freedom of information legislation. However, this would not have happened were it not for the Government being hammered into doing so by the public. It became too ridiculous to do otherwise.

Why stop there? What is so special about Irish Water that the Government would allow it to be covered by freedom of information? As Deputy Stanley hinted, why not apply the legislation to Coillte? What is so different about Coillte? Even Fianna Fáil has stated that we need a less minimalist approach to freedom of information. The dam has broken if that is the case.

Can the Minister imagine a Deputy being approached with allegations that fraud has been committed against a semi-State company only to discover that every avenue for acquiring information that should be available to him or her is blocked off, be it the Comptroller and Auditor General or freedom of information provisions? The Deputy might try to have a chat with the Minister, the company's boss. Guess what the Minister told us? He told us that he could not get information out of Coillte about an alleged fraud against our company because it was commercially sensitive. Are we meant to accept that a Minister, who is in effect the company's boss, is not privy to its information on grounds of commercial sensitivity? This is a farce.

I encountered the same issue on Roscommon County Council as a member of its corporate policy group. We were meant to be in control of the council, yet I was told that I could not have certain information about our own money because it was commercially sensitive. Why is this being done with Irish Water but not Coillte? My office is preparing a Bill to change this situation. Now that the Government is open to transparency, it will probably vote for the Bill.

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