Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

During yesterday's venting, the Taoiseach's fake outrage focused on comments that I made on the handling of freedom of information requests. In particular, the Taoiseach claimed that I had failed to understand basic procedures or the difference between the Government and the Civil Service. That is quite an incredible statement given the fact the Government is spending millions of euro claiming it is responsible for every positive thing done by every civil and public servant. During his time in office the Taoiseach's predecessor, Deputy Enda Kenny, accepted that he had personal responsibility for ensuring that freedom of information laws and principles were respected in his Department. He saw no conflict between discussing the performance of the Department and the independent decision making structures.

The bottom line is that it took six months for the journalist Mr. Hugh O'Connell to get the information that he requested. The strategic communications unit may not have been formally set up until September but its head was hand picked and announced in July of last year. None of my comments has been personal nor are they an attempt to smear anybody. It is my responsibility to hold the Government to account. The Taoiseach said himself that mistakes were made. Basically, it is a simple hard fact that since he took up office, his Department has fought repeatedly to withhold documents relating to a major point of public controversy. The Taoiseach himself has refused to give many details in the House to Deputies and journalists have had no alternative but to use freedom of information laws. Now that the Information Commissioner's work is complete, the Taoiseach is free to comment on the incredible fact that the kind of information that was refused included email chains between the Taoiseach's chief of staff and Mr. Concannon. They were never confidential Cabinet memos and it defies any logic to suggest that they were. Likewise, an email pertaining to the Taoiseach suggesting that an announcement on the new child care subsidy should be a Government announcement as opposed to one from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs incredibly became a Cabinet memo for the purposes of refusing its release. As the Taoiseach said himself, the normal procedure is that a deciding officer seeks documents from individuals and allows them to state a view on the appropriateness of releasing them. I have gone through the relevant documents and one in particular states that the Taoiseach has decided to "establish a small unit" in the Department of An Taoiseach, which illustrates his deep connection to this unit.

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