Results 12,141-12,160 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: I will reflect on that but as I said, I do not want to put impracticable bits in which are too burdensome on the system.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: I will reflect on 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)
Brendan Howlin: Let me see if I can do it without too much burden-----
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: "Reduce demand" were the words Deputy Donnelly put in my mouth, which I certainly did not say.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: Managing demand is to manage the way the process works to ensure it is efficient and that we have the resources to deal with it effectively. There is no point in crafting legislation and giving people all sorts of rights which we do not have the wherewithal to deliver so people are on their own. We have done that too often in the past.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: I do not know how much it will increase but in times when we are charging for a whole lot of things, I do not agree with the notion that we would say this particular public service is fee, even though we know the unit cost is on average about €600 per request. There is a real cost. Is the Deputy saying we should recoup more of the cost so that would bite better? I am saying the...
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is missing the principle here. I am not saying it will solve the national debt but in a climate where we are charging for basic services, it is reasonable to ask for a contribution, however small, to be made towards the cost of freedom of information. That is my principled position. I was in the Seanad today dealing with the legislation on reducing by 10% the leaders'...
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: Independents and all parties.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: It reduced it by 75%.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: Again, I am not increasing fees. I am decreasing appeal fees. I am not increasing any 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)
Brendan Howlin: Deputy Donnelly says that reducing the appeal fees will have a further impact on altering a regime that has been in place for a decade.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: I said no such thing.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: I said no such thing. The Deputy is interpreting what I said. I said "manage", I did not say "keep them down". These are Deputy Donnelly's words.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: If Deputy Donnelly is going to answer his own questions, there is no need for me to be here.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: I have answered that question but I will do so for a third time. It is to ensure the structure is in place to work properly.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: The current freedom of information regime is patchy, as I said already. We will have a single code of practice and all freedom of information officers will be trained in it. We will have simplicity and consumer focus in respect of training. I have said repeatedly that a freedom of information officer will propose that a document can be sent electronically and ask whether that would 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)
Brendan Howlin: That is what is implied in section 17(1)(c), "where available in such form and subject to subsection (2), with a searchable electronic version of the record".
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: It will be in the regulations.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: Figures of that sort are dealt with in this way so that inflation can be accounted for.
- 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)
Brendan Howlin: The fee structure is one of the orders required to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.