Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí a labhair ar an rún seo. We know from the conversations and speeches tonight and from long before this evening that this regime is in crisis. This is not new. Transparency campaigners have been saying this for a long time. All of us here who have tried to get information through the FOI regime will understand the frustration of those transparency advocates who have told us time and again that this is in crisis.

We should not be fooled in this regard. It was very clear today and over the past number of weeks that Ministers either do not have a clue what they are supposed to do in regard to the freedom of information process or they are simply ignoring it and do not think it is that important. As was said several times tonight, the FOI system really is a cornerstone of democracy. This is not an issue of Government versus Opposition; it is, simply put, a democratic issue and it needs to be dealt with at this stage.

As I said earlier, I have raised this issue with the Minister in the past and he has said previously that he considers the system to be robust. I take his point that he announced in June that he will undertake a review. However, that is not good enough. We do not need a review. What we need now is action, not another review. Some days ago, I heard the Tánaiste speaking on radio and it was clear that even he is not aware this review is taking place. What we have heard tonight and in recent weeks, as well as the fact Ministers are not aware that a review is taking place, shows the FOI regime is not being taken seriously enough and people simply do not seem to care about its importance. The Minister's amendment states that there should be a review etc., but my view is that we have gone beyond a review. We need only look to what has been said tonight and the fact we have Ministers claiming they did not know they should not delete text messages that relate to Government business. That shows we need more than a review. What is needed is action and what is being proposed is not good enough.

The Sinn Féin Bill is not something that was just drafted at the last minute. We have worked on it for some time. This motion deals with much of what is covered in the Bill. Why will the Minister not enact the motion and ensure the Information Commissioner is able to refer complaints, under the FOI legislation, to SIPO? Surely that is of benefit to everyone in this Chamber? Why not ensure that when public bodies are established under the Companies Act, they are immediately brought under the FOI legislation? These are simple and practical steps we can take. I urge the Minister to commit to doing an annual review of all the bodies to which the FOI legislation applies, including those bodies that are partially within the remit of the system. This would ensure we are consistently doing our best in terms of transparency and accountability.

I totally agree with the Minister about not needing to rely on the freedom of information legislation. Although we will always need that legislation, I would love to have a situation where we do not need to rely on it to access information. As it stands, however, we have the FOI legislation in place and we cannot get the information half the time. We know there are breaches of the legislation. While I agree with the Minister that it would be great to see the day when it is not needed, we are very far from there. I urge the Minister to reconsider his amendment and recognise that the motion provides simple and practical steps, such as the enactment of our Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill, that can be taken. We should do the right thing in this regard.

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