Results 4,281-4,300 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: Something is in process.

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

Ciarán Lynch: If I may digress for a moment, the joint committee had a discussion with representatives of Anti-Deportation Ireland earlier this afternoon. At first glance, one could ask what the relevance of the Freedom of Information Act is to issues pertaining to refugees, asylum seekers and so forth. However, our discussion was very engaging and enlightening as it seems it is not possible to obtain...

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

Ciarán Lynch: We also heard that some official agencies are covered to a greater extent than others. For example, services to accommodation centres for asylum seekers are subcontracted, which means that a centre may be managed by a third party which has won a contract from the State following a tender process. It is proposed that non-governmental organisations such as development agencies working in...

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

Ciarán Lynch: Therefore, a private company that is not any way a State operation but is receiving State payments would be subject to requests.

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

Ciarán Lynch: Thank you.

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

Ciarán Lynch: I will take that on board. Some activity has been taking place in that regard and there has been correspondence and engagement between -----

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

Ciarán Lynch: One of the duties of the Information Commissioner is to identify where Departments have not complied fully with or created difficulties with regard to FOI requests. The Office of the Information Commissioner identifies inconsistencies in how applications are dealt with by Departments. Is there a need for some form of standardised training, particularly on foot of this legislation?

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

Ciarán Lynch: When a ruling Ms O'Reilly has made on an appeal is implemented in a particular instance, is it then implemented across other Departments? Are those other Departments informed of particular rulings that are made or do they relate just to the individual Department involved?

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

Ciarán Lynch: The concern in this regard is how this matter is monitored and how other Departments are picking up on it. While the information may be available, I wonder how aware other Departments are of its existence.

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

Ciarán Lynch: I have a question on foot of what Deputy O'Donnell said, to which the answer is most likely yes. Is there an FOI archive? Is there a website on which I could find every freedom on information request that has been released?

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

Ciarán Lynch: Should they publish them?

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

Ciarán Lynch: That is the way the Dáil operates in that every parliamentary question becomes a matter of public record as soon as it is published and it is there for eternity. We might not be here ourselves but-----

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

Ciarán Lynch: Perhaps that should be a recommendation of the committee and it would be resourced-based one.

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

Ciarán Lynch: When I was speaking to representatives of the NUJ this morning they said that a question asked in a submission could have been asked by somebody else. It would sense if there was some sort of search engine-----

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

Ciarán Lynch: There would have to be cost savings from doing that in the long run although there would be initial start-up costs.

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

Ciarán Lynch: In terms of a review process as legislation is passed, does Ms O'Reilly have a view on how the legislation could be reviewed in the future. This is something that needs constant attention a not a type of a big bang approach by a Minister every five or ten years.

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

Ciarán Lynch: Were they statutory instrument changes?

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

Ciarán Lynch: Can there be statutory instrument changes to the Act or does it have come through in legislation?

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

Ciarán Lynch: That is right.

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

Ciarán Lynch: As in the Private Residential Tenancies Board.