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

I do not think that is a reason to exclude it as people in the North are sufficiently open, though it may be necessary to hold talks.

Amendment No. 23 deals with receivers and administrators working for or on behalf of the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA. We are talking about people with service contracts or administrative arrangements with a State body. I presume the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, was excluded but I think it should be listed as a partially-included agency, based on its administrative functions. We all agree that there are matters of commercial sensitivity but aspects of the work of these organisations are not related to commercial sensitivity, especially work carried out by receivers and administrators on their behalf. This applies to NAMA to some extent but I am trying to capture other bodies that might, as mentioned by the Minister, utilise people providing contracts for services or administrative arrangements. Will the work of receivers and administrators for the National Asset Management Agency fall under this freedom of information legislation when it passes?

Amendment No. 79 deals with the Office of the President and restricted bodies and this point has been well made. Amendment No. 103 seeks the removal of the Food Safety Promotion Board from the list of exempt bodies, though the Minister will say it is a North-South body. I think we need to address the issue of North-South bodies. The Food Safety Promotion Board would not be restricted if it was a 26-county body and would be open to FOI requests. Food safety and traceability are very important issues and I am sure those in the Northern Ireland Assembly agree. I do not know whether FOI legislation from Northern Ireland or Westminster covers this but I do not believe the view on this would be much different. I suggest a co-ordinated approach to FOI for cross-Border bodies be adopted at the next North-South Ministerial Council meeting.

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