Seanad debates

Tuesday, 4 March 2003

Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed).

 

There is an argument that five years is not adequate and that ten years is more practical. As a tutor in Trinity College, I would tell students to let it all out and to make fools of themselves because university is the place to do so. If there are not rules for Cabinet to allow open, honest and abrasive discussion without it being leaked – where the emphasis would be put on the disagreement rather than the real subject – it makes Government more difficult. I understand the Minister's position on this. We now have access to the record of telephone calls between Mr. Lynch and Mr. Heath at the time of Bloody Sunday. If the content of those phone calls had been made available within five years, it would have had an inflammatory effect on the situation in Northern Ireland. We must be conscious of this aspect of the matter.

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