Phil Prendergast (Labour)

In 1997 we saw the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act which obliges public bodies such as Departments, the HSE and local authorities, among others, to publish information on their activities and to make personal information that is held available to citizens. The Act also provides for assisting members of the public in "obtaining access to the greatest extent possible" to information in the possession of public bodies, with a provision that people should also have the right to have inaccurate information corrected.

With regard to the latter, this was and continues to be a very basic and important right for the citizens of Ireland in an ever-growing world of computerisation and compilation of databases, where the risk of inaccuracies grows with the continued development of such means for acquiring and storing information. The Freedom of Information Act was a step toward openness and transparency founded on the belief that public bodies, in their positions of power, must be accountable to the public they serve. While the ideal is excellent, over the years the original idea of total transparency differs enormously from what has evolved. The initial Freedom of Information Act that was to provide for improved accountability and ease of access to information has been diminished by the large degree of delegation exercised in Departments. The Minister at the head of a Department is now far removed from the coal face and in many cases there is very little accountability in evidence.

The Department of Health and Children is a case in point. With the creation of the HSE, it appears the Department of Health and Children is no longer responsible for the management of health related issues. When a query arises it is referred to the HSE and from my experience, working on behalf of clients, it is an absolute nightmare trying to navigate through the system and ultimately find someone prepared to take any responsibility or to provide a reasonable answer. That also means there is no reasonable period of time within which they are obliged to provide an answer.

In recent times, we have had the unfortunate misdiagnoses of many women. After internal investigation attributed these fiascoes to system failures, we must question the transparency in this regard. No one knows what happened despite the reports, no one is accountable and, as a result, little changes to improve the system. The service, and ultimately the type of mismanagement that created the climate where such tragedies could happen, is simply not being addressed.

In the past, the Information Commissioner has made reference to the delay in publishing reports. In particular, I refer to the commissioner's encouragement of the HSE in her 2004 and 2005 annual reports to publish reports of its inspections of nursing homes, based on section 38 of the Freedom of Information Act. This states the commissioner should, "foster and encourage the publication by public bodies of information of relevance to the general public in relation to their activities and functions generally".

In June 2005 the HSE committed itself to publishing nursing home inspection reports in response to the commissioner's 2004 annual report. The HSE was to publish nursing home inspection reports on its website as a matter of course and in October 2005, while work was reported to be advancing well on national standardised nursing home inspection and reporting arrangements, it took almost a further year before inspection reports were published. I believe that recommendations made by the Information Commissioner should be prioritised by Departments and while acknowledging the logistics involved, it should not take more than two years to implement a recommendation. In the case of nursing home reports, undoubtedly families refer to these when choosing a facility for their family members. In my eyes that is the essence of the freedom of information ethos — assessment and publication of comprehensive and current reports, which will directly influence the quality of service provided by such enterprises. However, these reports must be published in a timely manner.

In 2003 an amendment was made to the Freedom of Information Act which saw the introduction of fees of between €15 and €150, as stated by my colleague, Senator Hannigan. These charges undoubtedly led to the subsequent decline in the number of queries submitted. Prior to the amendment, in 2003 some 18,443 requests were made to public bodies under the Freedom of Information Act. This was an increase of 1,247, 7%, over the 2002 figure and an increase of 3,015, 20%, over the figure for 2001. The latest available annual report for 2006 shows that 11,804 requests were made to public bodies under the Freedom of Information Act in 2006, a decrease of 19% on the 2005 figure of 14,616, and 6% below the 2004 figure of 12,597. When the 2003 figure of 18,443 is considered alongside the 2006 figure of 11,804, it is evident that there is a clear correlation between the introduction of fees and the drop in requests.

Prior to 2003, a fairer system was in place with charges only applied once access had been granted. It is essential now that we revise the fees downwards to address the decline. Following the 2003 amendment a charge was applied on initial application for the relevant records with additional charges being put in place for applications for internal review of a refusal and for appealing a refusal to the Information Commissioner.

Excessive delegation, delayed reporting and unfair fees have had a negative impact on the effective operation of the Freedom of Information Act and we now need to address this issue in a meaningful way, returning to the original spirit of the Act of transparency, accountability and good governance.