Seanad debates

Thursday, 20 March 2003

Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages.

 

The Information Commissioner's comments on the deliberative process are notable in the context of the amendment. On pages 49 and 50 of his report, he refers to the amendments proposed in section 13 of the Bill and provides the example of a case brought by the person primarily responsible for drafting the original legislation, the former Minister of State, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald. The latter made a request for information relating to the interdepartmental strategy group on employment and unemployment. I will not enter into details of the case, but an appeal was brought before the Information Commissioner. In the summary of the resulting judgment, it is quite rightly pointed out that there are some policy areas, such as those relating to employment, that do not have a specific timeframe – they cannot be said to have a beginning and an end – and are relevant to a number of Departments. They also form part of the deliberative process of a number of Government decisions.

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