Results 14,561-14,580 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Many happy returns.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I have already responded to the exemptions issue, which we will examine. In terms of enforcement, there are no administrative sanctions but it is a criminal offence and there are criminal sanctions against breaches of the Act. Regarding commercial semi-State bodies, we had this debate in the context of the Ombudsman. Senator Barrett was of the view that no one should be exempt from...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I also meant to mention NAMA. I will come back to the Deputy later.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: That is like saying that we should have more court cases to be won. It depends on the evidence, the nature of the appeal and whether it complies with legislation.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: With regard to the success rate of appeals, I do not have the data but I will see if I can find it and send it to the Deputy. I intervened to answer the other part of the question about tweaking the appeals process to allow more appeals to succeed. We set out the criteria and, as long as the application meets the criteria, the appeal should succeed. If it does not, the appeal should not...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I understand the Deputy's principled position on this matter. As I have said, this is simply couching. It is one thing to speak in a theoretical way, but it is another thing to actually provide for a practical regime that does not over-burden systems, such as the local government system, that are already under pressure. If one wanted to make a point about some aspect of the local...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: One famous note said "If pressed, repeat the above".
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: If one got a licence before the beginning of testing, one is allowed to keep that licence. There was a time when one could buy a licence.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: That is what is in the legislation.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Nobody is opting out. There is no opt-out provision.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: No.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: With the exception of some specific categories we have excluded, everybody comes under the criteria. We have pushed it as far as we can in terms of areas that traditionally fought off any efforts to include them in the freedom of information regime. I refer for example to the financial sector, which has been mentioned by the Senator. I will be a little more explicit in that regard when I...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Sorry; I should not have interjected.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Commercial semi-state bodies are excluded.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Any commercial semi-state body is excluded.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I will not be able to be brief because a number of questions have been asked.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I will be as quick as I can. A number of important issues have been raised. I will start by dealing with the commercial side of things. Freedom of information legislation and, as in the case of our discussion of semi-State companies, the Ombudsman, should not be considered the only vehicles for achieving accountability. My strong view for a long time has been that we should have a strong...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I agree entirely with Deputy Harris that extracting information is viewed as scoring a great victory, even where the information is often readily available, and freedom of information legislation is often viewed as a means of prising open an organisation to obtain information. This should not be necessary as information should be routinely available except where there is a compelling reason...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Why?