Results 4,261-4,280 of 16,492 for speaker:Ciarán Lynch

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: The perceived concern is that when information is provided under freedom of information in its original format, which may be a financial cost table, spreadsheet or database, such a record might reveal more than what the applicant is actually looking for. If someone wants to know the specific amount of money that was spent by Department under a certain heading, that is a factual and static...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I thank Mr. Sheridan for coming and for presenting a very enlightening and differently informed view of the route the legislation may need to take. I thank him for his deliberations and for sharing his information with the committee. I know Mr. Sheridan was in the public gallery earlier and that he was here when the Minister, Deputy Howlin, was here and that he is very interested in this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: We will continue now with session three of our pre-legislative examination of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012. This is part of a pre-scrutiny process allowing various groups and witnesses to present their ideas and views on how the legislation should progress. At the end of this process, the committee will make a series of recommendations to the Minister, Deputy Howlin, in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I welcome the witnesses before the committee this afternoon. I will raise three items before inviting other members of the committee to speak. As the Minister has outlined legislation, there will be aspects of the Garda Síochána's operations that will come within its scope. The presentation this afternoon referred to two issues about which we would like more information. With...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Does the reception and integration agency have that information but is not releasing it or has the information not been logged? Has the information been compiled or is it that there is no access to it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Has it provided reasons for that? Mr. Bukha indicated that a Deputy put down a parliamentary question so when the Minister responded, was any detail given? Was it a holding answer because the information was not available?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I am not sure if that is a systems problem or a problem regarding access to information. Is the agency compiling the information? It would be a revelation if that was not the case. Does the agency have the information but it is outside the remit of the Freedom of Information Act?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: The presentation indicates that certain agencies should be included in the first Schedule of the Act, including the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, the Garda National Immigration Bureau and the Irish Nationalisation and Immigration Service. Are those agencies currently outside the legislation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Are the witnesses concerned with the entirety of those operations or specific aspects? In his engagement with the committee, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, there was consideration of general Garda operational matters. It is not that he organisation would provide information regarding criminal investigations but rather statistical information etc. There is a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: We would like examples of the correspondence and replies from the Department indicating that the information has not been given to the group.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Ms Murambinda needs to be mindful of discussing individual cases and people's medical needs. Somebody's medical history is not something that comes under the Freedom of Information Acts. What can be available is an agency's record of how many ill people there are. I must separate one process from the other.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: We need to be careful. We must separate that discussion or we will get into two separate issues. The day-to-day management of the centres is a matter more pertinent to the justice committee. There is then the information on how tendering is conducted and the results. Is it policy, for example, that food is distributed in this manner or is that decision in the hands of the tenderer? There...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I concur with that, Deputy McDonald.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I think I tabled a parliamentary question on that issue to the Minister for Justice and Equality before Christmas.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: The figure was quite startling and the breakdown in nationality was very distinct on who has been refused entry.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Should the witness have further questions, we will take them. I am not trying to be uncompassionate to the day-to-day circumstances of the witnesses and the difficulties that they as individuals experience in different centres around the country. I have had first-hand experience of this in my previous job when I was very involved in setting up English and basic computer classes in centres...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I commend Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett in the light of what Mr. Bukha said. I was not too sure what we were going to be doing this afternoon. When our discussion started, my memories of working in this area started to come back to me quickly. In fairness to the Deputy, he is to be commended for having the foresight and vision to see that Anti-Deportation Ireland's concerns were of relevance...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: We will commence session five in our advance scrutiny of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012. We are joined by the Information Commissioners, Ms Emily O'Reilly and Mr. Stephen Rafferty. They are both welcome. Ms O'Reilly's opening remarks will be followed by a question and answer session. By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: The Information Commissioner's most recent engagement with the Department on the freedom of information legislation was in 2005. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Does the Information Commissioner intend to make a submission to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform or engage with his office in the coming weeks as part of this pre-scrutiny process?