Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

If one was investigating the culture of secrecy and the absence of transparency in Ireland there would be no need to go much further than the tool one needs to carry out that investigation. The Freedom of Information Act is a travesty paraded as real democratic reform in action, to quote the Minister. Only under pressure from civil liberties groups and after being reminded of election promises and the OECD and Council of Europe recommendations were the upfront fees abolished. What we have now is a system whereby one could be charged from €100 to €500 for a freedom of information request if it takes in excess of five hours to fulfil. This is not best international practice. For example, the UK legislation provides for public authorities either to charge for or decline requests for information that would cost the public authority either more than £600 for central Government or £450 for other public authorities to deal with the request. Furthermore, the list of exempt bodies makes a mockery of the Minister's claims. There are already 38 explicitly exempt bodies and the records of 35 bodies and institutions are only partially included. If the Minister considers that the media and the public seek too many freedom of information requests, if there was less secrecy in Ireland they would not have to seek so many FOIs. Of course, there are some bodies that merit exclusion from FOI for reasons of national security and individual privacy but the almost entire exclusion of the police force from the remit of FOI requests is a disaster and the amount of newly available information is minuscule to the point of being of little or no consequence.

On this issue, the Bill knowingly flies in the face of a recent UN report on compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions acts as a secret society. The National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, and the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, are inaccessible. The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation acts in the shadows.

The motion before us is simply more of the same, a further extension of the uselessness of Ireland's freedom of information legislation. Thomas Jefferson said that if democracy is to flourish, every day a citizen must be a participant in the government of affairs. This Bill ensures that genuine democracy is not possible in Ireland. If this is real democratic reform in action, the aim of the Minister's reforms must be to abolish democracy.

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