Results 301-320 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I am not as good as the Senator. I have many flaws and faults, as he saw earlier.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: If I was head of a Department and a request came in from a journalist, I might consider it an irritation that he or she should be looking for the information in question and might decide to hand it to my colleague, Dr. Henry, who deals with the particular section because she would know what to do with it. I might pass on the next request to somebody else. Eventually it goes up the line and...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I am delighted to hear that.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: Senator Leyden has raised an important point. He is right about Iris Oifigiúil. I receive it occasionally, but I do not know from where it comes. I cannot remember when I last saw that very poor publication. Many announcements are published in Iris Oifigiúil, but it is like a cloak of secrecy when one considers who sees it.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: My case was not based on that. I do not disagree with the points made about Iris Oifigiúil, but the reason this was included in the first instance was so that it would not be dealt with in an arbitrary manner – changed from month to month or application to application. In addition, there should be a record of who is doing what. I agree with the points about Iris Oifigiúil. The information...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: The Senator should not make that assumption.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: If the Senator finds it difficult to understand the reason things have been done in a particular way, that bears no comparison to the surprise on this side of the House on having perfectly framed amendments ruled out by the Chair. We also have to cope with major meetings of committees taking place at the same time as Report Stage in this House and not being provided with full information on...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I am a creature of government. I have to do business with whatever Government the people put into office.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: It is quite incredible to suggest that this Bill does not restrict information – it does. Irrespective of whether it is a good or bad idea, it certainly restricts information on a substantial scale. I will give a few examples as to how it would operate. The classic example would involve people seeking access to information arising from a complaint. In other words, a person could have a...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: Does the case law to which the Minister refers arise from the High Court judgment?

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: Is it incorrect then to state the interpretation given here, that there must be a decision made as to whether there was a sufficiently substantial link between the requester's personal information and the record in question? Is that incorrect? They ask a question and the FOI officer goes through the information available and has to make a decision as to whether it is appropriate. The officers...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I am aware of that.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I know that is only part of the finding, not the complete judgment. We can look at the judgment. Is the Minister of State advising me that it is an incorrect summation of the judgment that what must be done is to establish that there is a sufficiently substantial link between the information and the record in question?

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: That is exactly it.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: He did not give the full information in the report.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: He left out things. He did a Terry Leyden on it.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: On Senator Mansergh's point, the words "relate to" are all over legislation, as the House will be aware. Whether it is ambivalent or otherwise, it is well used. It is no more ambivalent than the words "as far as is practicable", which appear in every piece of legislation I have ever seen. Somebody has to make a judgment about it and come to various conclusions. The reality is that we are now...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: Would the Minister agree that if there were some servants of the State who were predisposed to act, in Senator Mansergh's words, in a minimalist and restrictive fashion, what we are about to do is to make it ten times easier for them to operate in this way? We are actually giving support to people in that frame of mind. If people were of that viewpoint it would be better if they were to deal...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: More than "contain"?

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)

Joe O'Toole: It appears the document we received from the Information Commissioner has caused a certain degree of outrage among Government Senators.