Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I have a great deal time for them. They do a very good job and I wish I had some of them working for me. The Bill proposes to place a wall of secrecy around those whose job is to control the flow of information. This is a retrograde step by any standards. The Government will probably respond by defending the honour of special advisers. I will save it the trouble; my comments are not a reflection on the decent people who work for the Government of the day.

I am unique on this side of the House in several respects. I was one of the people who wanted a longer period, which we discussed previously. I also support the idea of programme managers and spin doctors because the Government should get the right message out to the people. That makes for good Government but if the special advisers, better known as spin doctors in some cases, are now exempt, that does not make any sense.

It is completely unacceptable and there is no support for that position outside the Government parties. Does Maeve McDonagh, the authority the Minister of State quoted last night, support it? Does the Information Commissioner support it? A former ombudsman is in the House and he has offered views on this position. It is impossible to understand the reason we should put in place something which denies us access to the information provided by groups such as spin doctors and others.

I will give a classic example of what is happening currently. The Government recently set up a committee to advise it on spending in the health service, reporting directly to the Government and not to the Department of Health and Children. I do not know who is on that committee but if they are people from various Departments, we would not have access to it. In other words, the next time a committee of officials is set up to consider a vitally important issue, the information will suddenly become exempt. That is nonsense. There is no support for this position. In fact, I withdraw all references to the committee I just mentioned because I can see what will happen. We will have a 20 minute debate on its membership. Let us forget the example I gave and stick to the principle, which is that under this provision people who are preparing documentation and advising Government, even outside the deliberative process, are now exempt. That is not acceptable and everything being said by the Information Commissioner confirms that. There is no support outside Government circles for this measure.

The people who welcomed this in 1997, whoever they may be, are all opposed to it now. That is the reality. This is the wrong signal to send out to ordinary people at a time when nobody makes a distinction between various politicians. They are referred to as "those politicians". Unfortunately, we are all lumped together in that sense. This is an effort to restrict and control the information flow. It is like something from George Orwell.