Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves the following Order in draft:Freedom of Information Act 2014 (Effective Date for Certain Bodies) Order 2015,copies of which Order in draft were laid before Dáil Éireann on 10th March, 2015.

I am seeking the support of the House for these orders, which I am proposing to make under the Freedom of Information Act 2014, one providing for a different effective date for certain bodies under freedom of information and a second order providing for exemptions from freedom of information in whole or in part for certain bodies. Both of these orders are to be made under section 6 of the Freedom of Information Act and require a positive resolution of both Houses before they can be made. We had a useful discussion on these matters at the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform yesterday.

I will explain to the House, for the benefit of Members who were not present at the committee, what I have in mind. I will deal first with the effective date order. In the context of freedom of information, effective date means the retrospective date back to which records are available from an freedom of information body. While the standard effective date for new bodies under the 2014 Act is 21 April 2008, which is a long way back, I have the power under the Act to set a different effective date by order. I have received various submissions, but the only applications I have agreed and propose to provide for by way of order are those from the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, for which I am proposing an effective date of 14 October 2014, which is the date the legislation was brought into force, and the Private Residential Tenancies Board, for which I am proposing an effective date of 21 April 2012. The rationale for my decision is that these two organisations hold large volumes of information and for them to process freedom of information requests back to 2008 would impose a significant administrative burden and lead to delays in the administration of their core business. As the bulk of the records held by both bodies are personal in nature, any personal records will be available to the individual to whom they relate and would not be affected by my decision to allow a later effective date.

On the exemptions order, a generic definition of what constitutes a public body was included in the 2014 Act and this enables freedom of information to apply to the widest possible definition of public bodies. As a result of this approach, by way of explanation to Members who were not in the committee meeting, up to now, freedom of information applied to bodies that were specifically included. Under the new law that we enacted last year, everyone is in unless specifically excluded by the Oireachtas through a positive vote. An order will be needed if a body is to be made exempt from freedom of information. I have only approved exemptions where it is clear that the application of freedom of information to those bodies, in whole or in part, would affect their ability to perform their core functions or, for example, in the interests of the security or financial position of the State.

I propose to exempt the Irish Red Cross, which, because it was established under legislation, inadvertently came under the definition of a public body, as I explained to the committee yesterday. I will, however, revisit this in the context of making non-public bodies, including charities, amenable to freedom of information in the future. The Shannon Group will also be exempt because it operates in a fully commercial environment. The reason it needs to be exempted now is that it came into being after the enactment of the legislation. Certain records of the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, will also be exempt, whether they are held by the SBCI itself or the National Treasury Management Agency, to reflect the level of confidentiality expected of such transactions in the marketplace. Records relating to the new legal cost claims management functions conferred on the NTMA, which relate to costs of third parties in the context of the Mahon and Moriarty tribunals, will also be exempt. I also propose to exempt Oifig Choimisinéir na dTeangacha Oifigiúla, to put that office in the same position in relation to freedom of information as other ombudsman's offices. I am also making a technical change to the exemption for schools to ensure all schools, other than education and training board schools, will remain exempt from freedom of information, as was the original policy when we enacted the law.

I am bringing these motions to the House today seeking a positive resolution in order for me to be authorised to sign these orders.

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