Seanad debates

Tuesday, 4 March 2003

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

 

It was more than disappointing to listen to one Minister on Radio One yesterday. I will not name the Minister who more or less blamed the five civil servants. The Minister in question avoided providing real answers and went on to pontificate about the five civil servants. I did not hear any contribution this evening which cast any aspersions on any civil servant, let alone the five who drafted this. To further reinforce that point, there are provisions in the Bill which were not even proposed by those five senior civil servants. That begs the question, who is driving this Bill? What is the Government's fear? Is it trying to hide something? Is there some phobia about the Freedom of Information Act which would cause a member of the Government to break out in a rash if asked questions? What is wrong with a citizen making an application under the Freedom of Information Act to elicit information?

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