Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

The purpose of the section is to ensure that in cases of a refusal to confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of a record, the provisions of sections 19, 20 and 21 of the Bill are invoked. Public bodies are not obliged to disclose the existence or non-existence of such records in a notification to a requester.

This amendment is consequential on amendments proposed to sections Nos. 19, 20 and 21. It deals with situations where the mere acknowledgement of the existence of a record would reveal sensitive information. As the Senator said, it covers personal information, information obtained in confidence and commercially sensitive information. An example would be medical records, where merely acknowledging the existence of a record could reveal sensitive personal information – for example, a requester asking for all records held on a third party by a hospital. It is obvious that it could be harmful even for the hospital to reveal it holds records.

There is a public interest test in the new refusal to confirm or deny provisions. Before one can refuse to confirm or deny the existence of records under the three sections the decision-maker will be obliged to consider the public interest.