Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I dealt with that issue in response to the question from Deputy Micheál Martin. I am withdrawing my remarks that these things were deliberately or otherwise not made available. In respect of record-keeping, staff are trained and upgraded in that regard. They work with staff from the National Archives in order that records are kept to the highest standards. There has been a change under the new Freedom of Information Act in respect of claims or issues under freedom of information legislation that are raised by Deputies who may have been in government a number of years ago such as Deputy Micheál Martin who was a Minister in the previous Government or the former Minister, Eamon Ryan.

With the change in the Act, if the current leader of a political party in government at the time the decision was made and any Government member who was not a member of the political party, from a practical point of view, must be consulted about Government records, memos, agendas, decisions and minutes of meetings before a decision is made to release them. In the case of Deputy Martin and Mr. Eamon Ryan, the Department is currently dealing with a number of freedom of information requests for Cabinet-related decisions that are five years old or more, including requests for records relating to the bank guarantee. The Department has written to both gentlemen advising them of the requests received and that records will be available for inspection, giving them a two week period to respond, in accordance with the Act. The correspondence may not have arrived yet with Deputy Martin.

The statutory framework relating to freedom of information keeps the decision-making process at arms length from the political head of the Department so, as Taoiseach, I have no role in processing freedom of information requests, nor do I know what they are. Under the new Act, they will be sent to Deputy Martin and Mr. Eamon Ryan and, as heads of their respective political parties now, they will have two weeks to respond to the requests. In so far as the standard and credibility of the record-keeping is concerned, I am happy the initiatives taken by the Department of the Taoiseach and others are up to the standard and will be there for future reference.

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