Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a general rule I have always favoured giving instructions as a Minister to Secretaries General that when parliamentary questions arrive, they should be answered, where possible, in as comprehensive and full a fashion as possible. Deputies are entitled to information that is not secret in any event. I do not see the freedom of information requests at all as they are dealt with by officials in every Department. I do not know what is the difference between what would be answered in parliamentary questions go flúirseach and what else is available under the freedom of information documents that are released. From speaking with some Ministers, I know there may be pages of individual requests that may include ten or 15 entirely different requests.

In the case of Irish Water, freedom of information could not be applicable until the body was set up. It took up responsibility on 1 January and the Minister has backdated that to its official inception. As it had not been set up when people were seeking information, there were claims of secrecy. The Minister has already included full parliamentary accountability, although I do not know about the issue here. When requests came for parliamentary question replies, they were transmitted to Irish Water but were not followed through. I think the Minister issued an apology about that. The Minister has since answered questions in the House about Irish Water and will continue to do so. The Minister, Deputy Howlin, made that very clear when he addressed the matter in the Dáil debate.

When the Minister, Deputy Howlin, introduced the freedom of information legislation last July, it provided for the process to be extended to a number of high-profile financial bodies, including the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, the National Pensions Reserve Fund and the National Development Finance Agency. They have all been brought within the jurisdiction of the Act for the first time, and they will be subject to the maintenance of strict confidentiality in engagement with commercial counterparts and so on.

The Minister, Deputy Howlin, addressed the matter of Irish Water last week when he indicated it would be made subject to the freedom of information legislation and rather than wait for the enactment of the new freedom of information Bill, arrangements will be made to provide for this by the inclusion under the existing freedom of information regime from its date of legal establishment in 2013. He will do that as soon as possible.

Full inclusion in the freedom of information system is achieved faster or more expeditiously by using existing freedom of information legislation rather than by amending it or including the body in the freedom of information Bill going through the House. That is the assessment the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has received. What I describe will happen as quickly as possible.

In general, I do not disagree with the Deputy. I would like Deputies who ask questions to be given as much comprehensive information as possible, except where it is sensitive or commercially sensitive. In a previous role the Ceann Comhairle was a strong proponent of Deputies having access to information through parliamentary questions. It would be a great advantage if a response to a parliamentary question included everything a response to a freedom of information request included, where possible. I am not sure what the difference is, but perhaps I will examine in my Department the difference between responses given to questions and replies to freedom of information requests where information was released.

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