Seanad debates
Tuesday, 11 March 2003
Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage.
The public interest is not at the heart of what the Government does. Defining and upholding the public interest were at the heart of the 1997 legislation. At the time it was a radical inclusion to provide for a public interest override in the legislation. The secrecy of decisions by State agencies and the institutions of State and the public's right to know were guaranteed by what was called "the public interest". That created a fundamental principle in the statute which is being diluted and undermined by this amending legislation.
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