Maurice Hayes (Independent)

While we are addressing the Bill we are not sticking to its text and are drawing in other things. It is interesting that the commissioner is being blamed for doing something while simultaneously being blamed for not doing something. Section 2(a) is quite sensible and reinstates the position as the commissioner thought it was before the High Court indulged in certain semantics. The subsection referring to the local authority is also fine.

Perhaps the Minister will explain why it is necessary to extend the definition of factual information to include "information of a statistical, econometric or empirical nature, together with analysis thereof". That sort of information is generally regarded as being neutral, a technical finding, and could be of great value to people who are commenting on the quality or nature of the discussion. It is a pity to apply this to something that is almost academic in nature. While factual information should, by all means, be protected, I am puzzled as to why it needs to be so widely extended.