Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I do not intend to accept the amendment. There is a Freedom of Information Act and if information is appropriate to be put in the public domain, in other words, if it does not contain security or confidential material, it will be available in that way. I cannot simply state that every report on every contractor in every circumstance goes into the public domain, any more than I would state as much about any report about a prison officer or a number of prison officers who, at present, conduct transport services on behalf of the Prison Service. I cannot give a guarantee that a written report concerning them automatically goes into the public domain. The Freedom of Information Act provides a proper balance between confidentiality, security and transparency and is the appropriate way to deal with this.