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

I move amendment No. 49:

In page 30, line 10, after “year.” to insert the following:

“The details of such report shall be published in such manner as would not in any way identify a person who has made a protected disclosure.”.

It is a very simple report. The Minister has made it clear that the role of the confidential recipient is narrowly focused regarding matters of security of the State and other such matters and that he does not expect a large amount of information to be submitted to this office, but my amendment proposes that in respect of the report required by the Minister in this section to the Taoiseach on the activities in the preceding year, the details of such report shall be published in such manner as would not in any way identify a person who has made a protected disclosure. I seek openness and transparency without the disclosure of any unnecessary confidential information, and in that way we will at least know the number of such reports.

In all legislation from our Government over the years, and perhaps it applies to other Governments also, there is a standard approach to exclude matters of security of the State and international relations from freedom of information, but international relations could be relevant to a taxation inquiry in respect of multinationals, if it comes to that. Sometimes we throw the cloak very wide to ensure information is not made available and to keep it under lock and key, so to speak, but a report should be published in such a manner as would not in any way identify a person who has made a protected disclosure in order to protect them. The Minister will probably agree with the principle in that regard.

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