Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

I will come to that. The high level group was set up by Government to advise in the light of experience of the operation of the Act to date and issues mainly relating to the operation of Government. The aim of the group was to strike the appropriate balance between maintaining the integrity of the Cabinet and the underlying deliberative process and ensuring appropriate level of openness and transparency in the public interest.

The group did not operate in a vacuum. It considered, inter alia, the 2001 report of the Information Commissioner on compliance by public bodies. It also considered the Civil Service Users' Network report of 1999 and the views of the FOI central policy unit of the Department of Finance which monitors the issues and the difficulties arising from the operation of the Act as part of its remit.