Joe O'Toole (Independent)

That is what any ordinary sensible person would say. He would not even begin to try to justify it.

There has been no consultation with any strand of civic society. The Taoiseach is in Northern Ireland tonight doing much hard work to maintain an agreement which establishes the importance of civic society on this island. We are discussing an issue which makes civic society important. It is one of the main bridges between civic society and the operation of Government. Civic society, whatever Government thinks that might be, was not consulted. Who was asked? The answer is those on the receiving end of freedom of information requests. That is a very one sided approach which does not bear up to any kind of scrutiny and is not something with which the Minister of State could live.

The Bill is appalling on many levels and I got tired reading it. I will read a short extract:

If, in the opinion of the head, granting a request would require the retrieval of such a number of records or an examination of such a kind of the records concerned as to cause a substantial and unreasonable interference with or disruption of the work of the public body.

Of course, a request disrupts the work. As every Member of the Oireachtas and civil servant knows, it is an utter nuisance that meddlesome politicians can ask parliamentary questions week after week, upsetting the business of State. One can imagine civil servants saying, "We could be getting on and doing stuff if they did not ask us all these questions. We have to prepare answers, give information, explain ourselves and defend positions. This is an awful mess and could we stop it, as quickly as possible?" That is the kind of trouble that a Bill such as this causes and that is what we do not want. It does not bear scrutiny.