Brendan Ryan (Labour)

This discussion should not take two minutes. All the Minister of State should do is remove the provision, particularly if it means nothing, and keep this cranky fellow here happy. No reason exists for a prohibition. Is this is a classic act of making something secret and seeing whether the public will find out about it? It should be dropped. What was intended was that the names of those receiving services would not be revealed nor would the nature of the service received. That is quite right and we all support it. The Freedom of Information Act covers this because it would be regarded as an intrusion on personal privacy.

The Minister of State has not given an explanation for this amendment. He stated the information is published. However, if it is published this amendment is meaningless. Once this Bill is formalised one will no longer be able to publish the information. A major corporation which wants to keep information quieter than it otherwise would be will insist it be kept private which is wrong.