Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that both of those Bills are very important, but "speedy" is not a word I would use in respect of some entities that are covered under freedom of information. It is not all of them; some Departments are good, but others are not. For example, the Irish Water call centre contract falls just outside the timeframe for freedom of information requests by a number of weeks. I can understand that there would be a confidentiality issue when a contract is being decided before it is awarded, but afterwards there is no reason that should not be fully transparent.

Getting certain information from Irish Water is like pulling hen's teeth. I looked for information on this very point last September and I got a reply containing information I could have picked off its website in December. I have had to seek a review on it, looking for the very information that would give me what the Tánaiste is telling me I can have. That is not a criticism of the legislation, but some entities are not using it as she described and it is very frustrating. Confidentiality and commercial sensitivity are routinely rolled out as a reason not to give information. In some cases that is reversed under review. Could the Tánaiste answer me that question in respect of the investment? Does she know what the investment into that company was? It happened in December 2015. What was it for and how much was it? If she does not know, could she come back to me with that information, if it is possible to get it?

In terms of freedom of information, even the company I raised is not served by the lack of transparency. Freedom of information is not functioning as well as it might be. If there is a Department that falls down on that, it is the Department of Finance that I find it most difficult to get information from.

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