Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I am responding to an issue.

The Information Commissioner has experience of both levels: at Secretary General level in a Department of State when he was a civil servant of the Government and now as a civil servant of the State. That distinction is not often made but it is a distinction and we should make it clear he has been both. The legislation also refers to those two groups of people.

The Information Commissioner has courageously produced this document, presumably to be helpful to all who are dealing with the Bill. Is the Chair telling me it is correct to go ahead? I am not asking the Chair to comment on the report and I feel safe asking the question as the Chair does not have to know the contents of the report. However, he does know it exists—