Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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3. To ask the Taoiseach the number of freedom of information, FOI, requests received by his Department in 2017; the number of staff working in this section; the number of requests that have been refused and the number appealed. [9878/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In 2017, my Department received 344 freedom of information, FOI, requests. Forty two requests were refused and no records were held in relation to 63 requests. There were 12 requests for internal review and two appeals to the Information Commissioner.

There has been a significant increase in the number of FOI requests received in my Department since the new Freedom of Information Act came into operation in 2014. I acknowledge the Deputy’s central role in the expansion of the scope of the FOI Act in 2014, which I was proud to support while in government with the Deputy. This much needed reform reversed the negative impact of the restrictions introduced by the previous Fianna Fail-led Government.

In 2013, my Department received 92 requests. This figure rose to 290 in 2015 and 344 in 2017, which represents an increase of 374%. The majority of requests submitted to my Department are generally non-personal requests from members of the media.

All requests received in my Department are processed by designated officials in accordance with the FOI Acts. If a requester has difficulty with an FOI decision, he or she can seek an internal review, followed by appeal to the Information Commissioner. The FOI statutory framework keeps the decision-making process at arm's length from the political head of the Department and his or her political advisers and I have no role in the decision making process for requests received in my Department. At most, one is asked for observations but I have not been so asked since I became Taoiseach.

There are two members of staff working in the Department’s FOI Unit, both of whom perform other duties. Staff from across the Department are also involved in processing requests in addition to routine duties such as searching and retrieving records and making decisions on requests received.

Section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 requires each FOI body to prepare and publish a publication scheme. My Department's scheme is published on its website and it sets out a range of information about the type of records it holds. My Department also publishes a range of information on its website on a quarterly basis, including details of foreign travel expenses, details of invoices paid in excess of €20,000, minutes of the Department’s management advisory committee meetings and a log of non-personal freedom of information requests.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I thank the Taoiseach for his response. He will be aware that the Government is a member of the Open Government Partnership, which is another initiative that I was privileged to propose in government. The programme for Government commits to transparent oversight building on the freedom of information reforms which the Taoiseach kindly acknowledged were proposed by me in government.

There are significant concerns around the experience of FOI requests and the delay in the Taoiseach's Department in processing them. The Taoiseach has already set out the number of FOI applications made. How many appeals were made to the Information Commissioner last year and the previous year and, if the Taoiseach has the information to hand, what was the outcome of those appeals? I am sure the Taoiseach has seen the articles in The Sunday Business Postabout the delays in releasing documents. It took six months, two appeals and an independent adjudicator before the documents referenced last week were released. Most of us would readily acknowledge that this information should be in the public domain and readily accessible by any citizen. It is very difficult to understand why it would take so long for this information to be released. The Taoiseach will probably respond to the effect that these are matters for the information officer in his Department but it might be worthwhile reviewing procedure in this regard to ensure that the general attitude in terms of freedom of information requests is, as I believe it should be, that information should be made available.

I had hoped the Government would be working towards a situation where the Freedom of Information Act would be unnecessary because the default position would be that all data in a Department would be accessible in a readable form. I am interested in hearing the Taoiseach's views on these matters.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy's time is up.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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This calls for a review, especially given that the Department lost the case. The Taoiseach should organise a review of the processes to make sure that such information is not withheld in such a manner again.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I echo many of the concerns raised in the Sunday Business Postby Hugh O'Connell last weekend which demonstrate, despite his protestations to the contrary, the Taoiseach's deep involvement with the strategic communications unit. In fact he is giving direction, as I would interpret it, in terms of its operation. Deputy Micheál Martin has mentioned the publicity for the child care subsidy scheme and the fact it was to be seen as an initiative of the Government or the Taoiseach rather than of the Department. An instruction was given that the publicity campaign would be run throughout the month of August which suggests a very deep involvement and not an arms' length or hands off approach at all. We discussed this yesterday and it is very clear to me that the strategic communications unit needs to go. I do not accept that what the Taoiseach has set up is an independent or credible review process. I say that while acknowledging the very many talents and capabilities of the Secretary General of the Taoiseach's Department. I have never made an issue of that but I think that the Taoiseach has put him in a terribly difficult position.

On another note, I found a supplement that came with the Irish Independenttoday of interest. It features no less than 12 photographs of Senator Mark Daly of Fianna Fáil. The supplement was produced by the Thomas F. Meagher Foundation. Mr. Meagher was a good Tipperary man. It says that it was produced "in association" with the Office of the Ceann Comhairle. I do not wish to draw the Ceann Comhairle into controversy but I would like to know if public moneys have been invested in the production of this supplement. The Ceann Comhairle himself features in it-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I assure the Deputy that there was no money from my office invested in it.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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His visage is in this publication also. I want to know if public moneys were used for this. It is an extraordinary publication. It is very lengthy and in part, informative. The fact that there are so many pictures of Senator Mark Daly in a single publication is an astonishing achievement of political communication and propaganda. In that sense, the Taoiseach is not on his own. It seems that these strategies are widely deployed and are much beloved of Fianna Fáil. The serious point I am making is that all of these types of approaches and initiatives are inherently problematic. On the face of it, this supplement is about the national flag, Thomas Meagher and so forth, all of which is good. However, it becomes difficult when it can be interpreted as politically partisan. I am not accusing the Ceann Comhairle, before he gets excited, of being politically partisan although he is pictured in it. Senator Mark Daly looms large in this publication.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I have not seen it yet but I presume there are others-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I want to know about the involvement of Dublin City Council but most importantly for our purposes, I want to know what "in association" with the office of the Ceann Comhairle actually means by way of financing this magnum opus.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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There was absolutely no financing by my office. I can assure the Deputy that there was absolutely none.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Can the Ceann Comhairle confirm that in writing?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Most definitely and without a bother.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have enough respect for the Ceann Comhairle and his office such that if he says something to me verbally, I will not ask him to send it to me in writing. That was an unnecessary demand by Deputy McDonald.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We will not get excited about it.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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None of us should get exited about it.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It was not intended to be disrespectful. It is just a matter of good process. The Taoiseach should try it.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Just for clarity, I was very involved in the establishment of the strategic communications unit. It was my initiative. However, if Deputies check the Dáil record, it was after the controversies around its setting up that I took a decision to step back. A budget was allocated, a memo was brought to Cabinet, the Cabinet agreed a work programme and the Secretary General of my Department put in place a governance structure. After that, I stepped back from any of the day to day operations, from involvement in decisions on advertisements, what they looked like, where they were placed and so forth. Obviously, however, I had an interest in the core work of the unit, whether it was the single identity, the www.gov.iewebsite or some of the campaigns that were run. My view is that the Government is the Government, by the way. I do not believe that I am the Government. I am the head of Government but am not the Government. I believe in a whole-of-government approach and do not believe that Government should operate in silos, with every Department operating almost as an independent republic. I believe in joined up Government. That is a philosophy of mine but I understand it is one that some people might not share. It made sense to me, for example, that when we were informing the self employed about new rights and entitlements that we would not have one campaign being run by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection on their social insurance rights, a separate campaign being run by the Department of Finance about increases in their tax credits and yet another campaign being run by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation on supports for entrepreneurs. Instead, we would put it all together in a single Government information campaign-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Not in a propaganda unit though; in an information unit rather than a propaganda unit.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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That is the philosophy behind what we were trying to do. People want to know what the Government is doing for them; they are not all that bothered about which Department or agency is actually doing it.

In terms of the open government partnership, the challenge of building a more open, transparent and accountable public governance unit in Ireland is being advanced through a range of reform initiatives led by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The open data initiative is a key part of these activities. It is closely aligned with the public service reform plan, the ICT strategy, the Civil Service renewal plan and internationally and it is a core element of the EU-wide approach to the re-use of public sector information directive which has been transposed by Ireland. As a central policy Department, the data held in my Department relates mainly to its administrative functions, including for example, human resources and financial management and no high value datasets suitable for publication on the open data portal were identified. We are considering how best to design a process that creates an action plan that can implement the solutions that matter to the public. We will aim for a more focused plan aimed at supporting our broader reform efforts in addressing the needs of citizens. This all relates to the open government partnership. Better citizen engagement for better outcomes is a key part of the strategy for innovation and reform of our public service up to 2020. The ambition is to promote meaningful citizen engagement in policy making and in turn to increase the legitimacy of decision making, improve the public's knowledge and awareness of complex policy challenges, help decision makers to make better decisions which should lead to better policies and improvements in the quality of service provision.

We will soon launch a portal that will bring together all public consultations in one place. This will be the first step in giving greater visibility to how public consultations are run and whether the principles in the consultation guidelines are followed.

On freedom of information requests, I want to put on record and make it very clear that it has been the long-standing practice in my Department, in the cases of successive Taoisigh, including myself, that the Taoiseach, as political head of the Department, has no role whatsoever in processing such requests. Provision does exist for me to be asked for observations on whether something should be released but I can confirm that I have not been asked for such observations since I became Taoiseach. I had been asked as a Minister in other Departments.

When freedom of information requests are received in my Department, the functions of the general examination and primary decision-making are delegated to assistant principals and some higher executive officers. The function of internal review has been delegated to officials not below principal officer grade and all requests received are monitored by the Department's freedom of information liaison officer. There are often reasons freedom of information requests are refused. This is because the matters under request are confidential, often relating to Cabinet. Sometimes they are commercially sensitive in nature, sometimes they are part of deliberative process, debates ongoing - debates in which lobbyists may have an interest, for example - and sometimes they are just personal. They could be to do with totally personal matters.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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These emails were not any of that.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am concerned at allegations that I - specific reference was made to me - or the Government in any way tried to delay or block the release of this information, because that is just factually incorrect. It is a very strange allegation to make in the context in which I was accused of blurring the lines between the Government and the Civil Service. It seems that I am accused of that on one account, yet am told I should be doing it on another account. I do not think that is a very consistent position.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I am sure the Taoiseach will come back to me on the question regarding appeals to the Information Commissioner.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Yes. I do not have the numbers to hand.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Taoiseach said he took a step back from the strategic communications unit once there was any controversy. It is my understanding - my deep understanding as a former Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform - that in budgeting, it is a Minister who determines the amount of money to be sought for any agency or unit. Who then proposed that the strategic communications unit should get €5 million and who determined that it should have 15 staff?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I asked the Taoiseach to review the process. Six months is not healthy. Initially, section 29 of the Freedom of Information Act was cited as the reason for refusing a release of these records. That section refers to matters actually under consideration by Government. The citation was changed in January to section 28(1), which deals with confidential documents, the equivalent of Cabinet memos. Of the emails that were refused, one is an email chain between the director, Mr. Concannon, and the Taoiseach's chief adviser, Brian Murphy. The Information Commissioner is very clear that they were never created as a record and never enjoyed Cabinet confidentiality. Second is the email concerning the Taoiseach and the child care subsidy in terms of the Taoiseach wanting it to become a Government announcement rather than a Department of Children and Youth Affairs announcement. There are very genuine concerns here. It took six months to clarify that point and I think, in terms of the macro policy role the Taoiseach has in the Department, a review of the operation of the process is merited.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I will give consideration as to whether a review is necessary. I would say the best way to approach that is for me to look at the number and percentage of appeals that were granted. If we have a high rate of appeals being granted, perhaps we should be releasing more. If the percentage of appeals being granted is slim, that would indicate that the Department is getting it generally right.

The budget for the unit was allocated as part of budget 2018 and was in the Appropriations Bill.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Was the figure proposed by the Taoiseach?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The figure was originally suggested by the director of the unit - I supported it - but, obviously, the budget is now likely to be curtailed significantly.