Seanad debates

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2008: Second Stage.

 

7:00 pm

Photo of Liam TwomeyLiam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I was around when the Freedom of Information Bill went through Dáil Éireann in 2003 and I do not recall many concessions being made to the Opposition. There was plenty of discussion but very few Opposition amendments or views were taken on board. The Government had just been through a series of embarrassing situations due to information released through the Freedom of Information Act and was anxious to close it down before things got worse. The Minister of State may suggest that the Government was balancing the access rights of citizens with good governance but ending Government openness was the real thinking behind the 2003 legislation. Since then, to some degree, the transparency and accountability of the Government has suffered.

Some of the measures taken in 2003 were draconian. During the course of the debate in the Dáil and on Committee Stage I agreed with some of the Government's views and decisions. Regarding Cabinet papers, the extension of time from five to ten years made sense, as did the restriction of sensitive information from Departments. However, I feel that fees were used to block access to information.

In any area of Government one can find reasons to explain an action or a decision. The Minister of State related cases of vexatious requests that were made but a few individuals may have been responsible for the majority of such requests. Many people made freedom of information requests simply seeking information and I believe that in the short period the older legislation applied, it contributed to openness and transparency in Government. There were costs involved for civil servants but many civil servants were gathering and collating information they never would have expected to be subject to public scrutiny. The Act changed how business was conducted in the Civil Service with regard to record keeping and having information in an accessible format. If we had progressed down that road for the past five years we would have contributed to more open Government. This avenue has been closed and I think this was done, to a degree, out of Government self-interest, rather than a desire to look after citizens.

In discussions in this House on the public service, including the Health Service Executive, the Health and Safety Authority and numerous other State bodies, people often wonder whether negligence is involved in how business is conducted. They wonder whether incompetence exists to such a degree that something should be done. The HSE gets a great deal of bad press and some of the worst press it receives originates from Fianna Fáil Senators and Deputies who do not associate it with their actions. We really do not know if the HSE is as useless and incompetent as is claimed because we cannot get the information needed to assess it. We cannot examine the HSE's management and governance because the relevant information is not made available to us. We, therefore, do not know it is incompetent. For all we know, the HSE could be a good and well-run organisation but under resourced with too much political interference. Many Ministers do not want information pertaining to their Departments and quangos under their remit — which are becoming increasingly familiar — to become publicly available because what is said behind closed doors is at variance with their public statements. They do not want such contradictions exposed in public.

The most important reason for freedom of information is that it stems the tide of corruption in politics. When one party has been in power for a long time, a certain arrogance emerges. Having transparency in the Government and Civil Service ensures corruption and arrogance do not become endemic or embedded.

According to the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, Departments have structured themselves to ensure information becomes routinely available. This was used by Ministers to stop freedom of information requests being made. For example, information from a request from a news reporter is often put on departmental websites, available to everyone, and negating its exclusiveness. It allows Ministers to claim they are doing the most for transparency.

It would be better if such a sentiment were more genuine. Information requested and allowed into the public domain should from then be made available routinely without the need for requests. For example, every year Members' expenses are requested by the media under the Freedom of Information Act. Instead, there should a standard procedure where Members' expenses are routinely made available without the need for an annual request.

The majority considers the Office of the Information Commissioner to be independent and free from political interference. The Government should take on board its recommendations on how to improve the freedom of information process. An independent review should be undertaken of the first four years of the legislation and the past four years since it was amended. It may find an opportunity to amend the legislation to ensure better governance in the Civil Service and other public bodies.

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