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

I seek clarification on amendment No. 42. We have dealt with the topic before. The Minister's amendment refers to a public body. Will he indicate what he means by a public body? I realise it is included in the definitions section on page 6. There is reference to Departments, local authorities and other entities established under enactments, etc. There is also reference to a company, within the meaning of the Companies Act, in which the majority of the shares are held on behalf of a Minister of the Government. Does this include all commercial semi-State companies, as well as non-commercial semi-State companies? We have debated the merits under freedom of information and other legislation coming from the Department of whether certain State organisations should come under freedom of information legislation. The Minister's view, which I agree with, is that those organisations operating in competition should not come under it. For example, Aer Lingus should not come under FOI provisions since Ryanair does not. I accept that principle fully. The issue relates to monopolies such as Irish Water and Iarnród Éireann. I do not accept it in their case and understand the Minister probably thinks along the same lines. In this section does he distinguish between commercial and non-commercial semi-State bodies? There are commercial monopolies, for example, Irish Water. However, other commercial organisations such as Bus Éireann and the ESB operate in competition. Will this place a requirement on commercial semi-State bodies in competition with organisations in the private sector to produce reports, while competitors will not have to do s? Could this place them at a disadvantage? I gather EirGrid comes under the legislation. It was established under a statutory instrument, although primary legislation has been promised for years. Will the Minister confirm whether Irish Water will come under it? I expect that it will.

There is one company in which I am particularly interested. There is reference in the section to a company within the meaning of the Companies Act in which the majority of the shares are held by a Minister of the Government. What is the position on Allied Irish Banks and permanent tsb? The majority of the shares in AIB are held by the Minister. Does AIB come under this legislation? We only have a minority share in Bank of Ireland which is exempt under this section. Will the Minister clarify whether there is a potential issue in this regard? We drew a clear line in freedom of information legislation such that it would not infringe on the rights of commercial organisations, but we do not appear to make the same distinction in this case. Will the Minister offer a comment on this? The example of Bank of Ireland versus AIB probably crystallises the debate.

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