Results 1,821-1,840 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: One can still make an estimate-----
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: -----just to work out whether it is worth the fee.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: Can the Minister give a range of estimates?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: What was the take for last year?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: Yes.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: With respect, I do not believe that is acceptable. It is pretty easy to produce a ballpark figure for the projected revenue from the scheme. One takes the current volume, applies the new fee schedule, makes some sensible assumptions on how the volume will change and comes up with a range. That would mean we would know whether we are talking about €10,000, €100,000 or...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: They might be.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: I do not know. With the analytical resources available to the Minister for projections of national finances over the next number of years for taxation purposes, expenditure and all sorts of stuff, the calculation would be a doddle. On the basis that the Minister has no idea how much the provision will cost or whether it will save the State money, and based on the report that says it is...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: I do not think it is unreasonable to ask how much money the Minister thinks he is going to get out of a new fees regime and how much it is going to cost to administer the scheme. He may think I am being unreasonable, but I do not think I am badgering him. I think my line of questioning is reasonable.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: No; I have not rejected his answer. I said his answer was unacceptable.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: We do not know how much the new scheme will cost or how much revenue will be raised, yet the Minister is comfortable making the assertion that it is required even in these challenging times. Clearly, analysis has not been carried out. The Minister clearly said there had been no analysis. Dr. Nat O'Connor has carried out an analysis and concluded that the fees regime was cost-neutral. I do...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: Yes, it was 75%. It is reasonable to assume that is what the Minister is doing.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: The Minister is maintaining a fees regime. There will be fees. The Minister had the option to abolish the fees regime but is maintaining it.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: The Minister said that one of the reasons for keeping the fees in place was to manage the workload, to keep down the volume of freedom of information requests.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: The Minister said so at the start of the meeting.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: What are the Minister mean by "manage demand"? Did he mean increase demand?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: What are the Minister mean by "manage demand"?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: I will move on to a less contentious issue. It concerns electronic versus paper records. I talked to someone involved in trying to retrieve a record. It was a 400-page document and the answer the person received was that a charge would cover the cost of finding, retrieving and printing a 400-page document. Someone else had seen that the official in question had the document in electronic...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: I think this is a mistake and a missed opportunity. Some measures in the Bill are very welcome but are undermined by what the Minister is doing with the fees regime.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: For the information of members, I would like to provide a context for the scale of the amounts we are talking about. In 2009, €115,000 was collected in fees from FOI. Under reasonable assumptions, about €64,000 was from the up-front fee of €15. Using a conservative assumption of a processing charge of €7 per fee, the net gain to the Exchequer from the up-front...