Results 4,501-4,520 of 4,717 for speaker:Martin Mansergh

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

Martin Mansergh: I said under legislation passed by the Oireachtas.

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

Martin Mansergh: I have the highest respect for the commissioner. I knew him personally in a previous incarnation. It is the role of the commissioner to advise on legislation and it is the role of the Government to decide.

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

Martin Mansergh: The commissioner has published four other reports and is involved in ongoing consultation, a two way process. From what I know of the way Government works, his views have been taken into account and incorporated. We are at the beginning of a legislative process that will last a few weeks and there will be plenty of opportunities for the Government and others to review the report. If anything...

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

Martin Mansergh: As Senator Hayes went into the matter, I presume I am allowed to comment in reply. Similarly, a diplomatic representative may not be a member of the Government but still represents it. I am not sure the commissioner has got that point quite right.

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

Martin Mansergh: In both Houses.

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

Martin Mansergh: I was referring to the legislative process as a whole.

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

Martin Mansergh: We are in danger of confusing things. The commissioner's report consists of two sections, namely, amendments he submitted some weeks ago—

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

Martin Mansergh: —and analysis. We should not confuse the two.

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

Martin Mansergh: The first section supersedes the second one. For example, it is clear that he is happy with section 2 of the Act. Appendix 2 cannot be amendments simpliciter as they refer to the original Act, not the Bill before us. They would have to be worked on to translate them into the different sections.

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

Martin Mansergh: The amendments must be related to the Bill before the House, not an Act passed five years ago.

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

Martin Mansergh: I agree with Senator McDowell that it is desirable that the tax strategy group papers should continue to be published. The tax strategy group is not a Cabinet sub-committee, rather it is a committee that is summoned into existence by the Minister for Finance. Over the past four years, we have seen the papers, except in cases where the deliberative process is continuing. The budget usually...

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

Martin Mansergh: That is when they are working to the Cabinet.

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

Martin Mansergh: There is a slight qualification. Not everything is released. The Senator understands that.

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

Martin Mansergh: It might be helpful to illuminate the discussion by outlining how freedom of information legislation works in a Department. The deletion has probably been proposed because the current clause does not correspond to the reality of the operation of the Act. In practice, freedom of information requests are handled de facto by a person in each of the divisions. Clearly, it is difficult for a...

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

Martin Mansergh: In reply to Senator O'Toole, training is provided. In my experience, Departments take FOI requests seriously as they do not wish to be in breach of the law. Obviously, there is an information officer co-ordination point but inevitably decisions require a great deal of judgment as to how one applies the rules in the specific instance. I participated in decision making on FOI requests when...

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

Martin Mansergh: The word "contain" is a more precise formulation than "relate to". I can imagine, as a civil servant who has had to contribute to decision-making, having awful judgment problems about whether something relates to something else. It is vague and ambiguous. The word "contain" is much more precise. Precision in legislation, which makes it easy for people to apply, has merit.

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

Martin Mansergh: The Senator is not without some influence on Governments.

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

Martin Mansergh: In defence of the Taoiseach, the Opposition has entirely failed to demonstrate that there is, in terms of practical end effect, a difference between "relate to" and "contain". The superiority of the word "contain" is that it is legally precise. We should not, in this case, keep language in legislation which is ambiguous and ambivalent. Whether it is "relate to" or "contain", the officer...

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

Martin Mansergh: Only potentially.

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

Martin Mansergh: We need to remember that we are talking about personal information. I do not accept that the people making the decisions will necessarily decide in a restrictive manner just because the word "contain" is used. It gives a firm basis, but there has always been room for discretion and judgment when it comes to supplying information that might be helpful. I do not see that there is a problem, but...