Results 10,141-10,160 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: While we all want simplicity and plainness in the law, we are obliged to have consistency in the use of terms throughout the law. That is why we have the Interpretation Act, which applies to all legislation. Section 16(c) of the Interpretation Act 2005 determines that "A "Person" shall be read as importing a body corporate, whether a corporation aggregate or a corporation sole, and an...

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Not very much. That is a fair representation of the position. It is my intention, as soon as the Bill is enacted which I hope will happen very shortly, to have the widest possible trawl of any body which receives State funding, conducts public business and should properly be amenable to FOI legislation. This is something which will be formally reviewed by the Oireachtas from now on. If...

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: He did not.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: He did not say that.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: It must be.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The definition of "record" in section 2 is very broad and does encompass paper-based and all electronic correspondence, including e-mails. The additional text proposed by Senator Thomas Byrne would not be workable for the very reasons set out by Senator David Norris. It would extend coverage beyond official records to the personal records and personal accounts of individuals. I do not...

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The official business of the State takes place on official networks and so on and anything germane to it should be found on them. In terms of confidential discussions, as instanced by Senator David Norris, there is hardly a Senator in the House who has not had such discussions with me on some matter-----

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: -----and not sought to give advice on something, sometimes against his or her party's view. Sometimes that is appropriate. The idea is to have an official document on the process of decision-making in order that we know who had an input and so on. The notion that one's personal records would be-----

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I am advised that would be the effect, if not the intent, of the amendment. I assure the Senator that any official information sent electronically to the Department from someone's personal account or by the Department to someone else's account is a record for the purposes of the Act. All information received or stored on any Department's ICT system is amenable to FOI legislation.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: On the notion that one could solve the problem to which the Deputy referred by making all personal communications amenable to FOI legislation, that is not a road I would travel. This issue was put to the information commissioner as far back as 2003. There was a question about whether people would not keep records or keep them in a different way because of FOI legislation. The information...

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: All public bodies are already captured by the Bill and will remain so. As I explained in my Second Stage contribution, this provision is to broaden FOI to include private bodies in receipt of State funding. However, this needs to be done in a structured manner. Not everybody who from commencement of the legislation receives a bob from the State can be captured. As such, there must be a...

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: It is publicly funded.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I did respond to that question on the last occasion, at which time I was a little beaten up for having singled out a particular organisation. It is that class of organisation that will be subject to FOI.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: That is an issue on which I will have to reflect further. The notion was that all public bodies would be captured. That was the original nexus of the Act. I want to extend that to capture other bodies that receive State funding. Whether bodies who have a statutory function-----

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: -----but do not receive any State funding can be captured is more problematic.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: We do: the ISPCA.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The Senator is correct that this issue was debated in the Dáil. Obviously, I am anxious that there be a reasonable period of retrospection. I am under considerable pressure not to have retrospection for six full calendar years, as I am proposing to do, but I consider it desirable and practicable. However, one must consider the issue of practicality when one intends to do something...

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: It is one year.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: It was for that reason I chose 2008, which predates all of the financial crisis issues.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Data (25 Sep 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 89 and 90 together. Information on the number of public servants is collected and collated on a quarterly basis.  The total number employed in the Public Service from end 2008 to date, expressed in terms of whole-time equivalents (WTEs) is set out below.  This information and further data  is freely available on my...