Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I second the amendment. If one needs to be persuaded that such amendments are necessary to focus minds, one only has to look at Iris Oifigiúil for a model of a publication which has more to do with the 19th century than with modern digital communication. Although it is the official publication in which enormous amounts of extremely important information are published, it is not sent to Members of the Oireachtas for some reason which has not been satisfactorily explained to me. It is only sent to the Oireachtas Library, although most publications are sent to every Member of the Oireachtas. It is also obscure and difficult to read.

I am not trying to pin the Minister down, but does he know if it is available electronically? I do not think it is and do not understand the reason such a fundamental document, in terms of the governance of the State, is not available electronically. I use that assumption to reinforce Senator Quinn's point that something as fundamental as Iris Oifigiúil, which may be published electronically, is apparently not published, presumably because of the reluctance of some people. I have visions of people in the scriptoria in the 1400s being threatened by a new invention called printing, becoming convinced it will not catch on and declining to be compelled to publish via it because the old ways are the best. We must remind people in our legislation that it is not that they may do it, but that they must do it like that.

This raises a huge environmental question. Electronic publication should result in less waste because only those who want the information will print it. Doing it the other way means that the information is printed and vast numbers of copies are made, many of which end up being pulped because one cannot forecast in advance how many people will want them. There is a strong case for requiring agencies, not only this one, to publish information electronically. It would be apposite that this agency should be compelled to do so.