Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Constitution talks a lot about the presidency. It talks about the possibility in some cases, as mentioned before the last election, of impeaching a President. There could well be discussions at some time in the future about the President, but I think the Office of the President is different from the President. Nobody is looking under FOI legislation for a letter that he sends to a Head of State, in the same way that I could seek a letter the Minister present might send to the Minister with responsibility for expenditure in Belgium. In terms of the Office of the President, the money spent on the administration of it should be subject to FOI legislation. Many of the people who work it are civil servants who do a great job.