Jim Higgins (Fine Gael)

The existing Act provides for four exclusions and it is now proposed to add a further three – personal records, commercially sensitive information and confidential information. The problem is one of definition. How does one define what comes within these additional categories? Why were they not included in the original legislation in 1997? What has happened in the meantime to bring about a sea change in Government thinking in order that these three areas are being added as further exclusions to the original four?