Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I have great respect for his job. I raised the issue of data privacy on an unrelated matter yesterday morning. Sometimes Fianna Fáil does not understand these things but it is extremely important.

After the behaviour of Fianna Fáil councillors in Loughrea in rezoning land on which the motorway was supposed to be built perhaps the Government is right to introduce the Local Government Bill. Perhaps Fianna Fáil has reservations about extending the powers of local government if its function is to reward its buddies by rezoning land in advance of it being compulsorily acquired by the State for public purposes. That is the way to give local government a bad reputation.

A Bill to amend the Freedom of Information Act will be published on Friday. Surely even Fianna Fáil can appreciate the irony of the blanket of secrecy that has fallen on freedom of information. I have never known the contents of legislation to be less signalled in advance. There is also irony in the compilation of a secret report by those most inconvenienced by the Freedom of Information Act, senior civil servants, without consultation with the Information Commissioner whose budget has been cut this year. This is a statement of attitude that merits serious consideration by a House of the Oireachtas. I ask the Leader to find out the reason the Government she so ably represents has decided to be so secretive about freedom of information.