Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

The Acting Chairman should ask the other side, even at this late hour, to allow the debate to go on because they are not contributing to it. Why are they all missing? I accept that the Leader contributed. I gather from the contributions of others that they are not satisfied with the legislation. The legislation has sent reeling every group with an interest in freedom of and access to information. The criticisms emanating from reasonable people must be noted by the Government. If it intends to proceed with the haste with which it began on this occasion, everyone will know it is hiding something and that it will continue to do so.

I will conclude by giving one more example which clearly indicates that without the Freedom of Information Act people would be at a very serious loss. A psychiatric patient living in the Mid-Western Health Board area, who was treated by a consultant for a long period, left the jurisdiction of that health board and went to live for a time in the Western Health Board area where satisfactory treatment was received. When the patient was sufficiently well and asked for the file to which he or she was entitled principally to find out whether the original consultant was still charging fees, access to the information was not provided by the Mid-Western Health Board. The file was likewise suppressed by the Western Health Board. It was only through court proceedings that the person eventually gained access to the file.