Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I support my colleague, Senator Higgins, on this issue. The Minister of State refers to requests which cause substantial interference to the work of a Department or unit. In the event that a person makes a request to a public body which then invokes this provision to reject the request on the grounds that it is unreasonable, will the requester be automatically informed that the request was denied because section 7 of the Bill revoked certain powers to access information in the principal Act?

The Minister of State is correct that the Information Commissioner did not specifically refer to this provision in his analysis of the Bill as proposed in appendix 1. However, it has come to our attention in respect of the users of the legislation that it can be a stone around their necks when trying to obtain information. We must set a reasonable threshold. Senator Higgins has argued that his amendment would establish the reasonable balance we seek in respect of the rights of the requester to obtain the information he or she wants.