Seanad debates

Thursday, 25 September 2014

Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage

 

12:55 pm

Photo of Brendan HowlinBrendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I share the objective of Senators Quinn and Barrett in amendments Nos. 20 and 28 in respect of ensuring good records management. The issue was considered in depth during the review of FOI legislation carried out by both an internal group of public bodies and an external group composed of academics, journalists and representative groups while the Bill was being drafted.

The external group's report, which was published on my Department’s website last July, underlined the importance of good record-keeping and records management.

On amendments Nos. 15 and 30, I have also given consideration to the issue of disclosure logs and the keeping of freedom of information statistics. The report of the external review group set out that some Departments, including the Departments of the Taoiseach and Environment, Community and Local Government, already publish a disclosure log. In addition to publishing details of what has been requested, a number of other Departments, such as the Departments of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and Transport, Tourism and Sport, publish the records disclosed. While the external review group recognised the benefits of publishing such information, it also acknowledged the potential legal, administrative and practical difficulties of widely publishing information released under freedom of information legislation. In addition, the Departments in question advised that there was no evidence that the publication of the records led to a more efficient freedom of information regime which reduced the number of freedom of information requests received from the same individual.

Section 48 is a general overarching provision on the publication of a code of practice and guidelines for freedom of information. While I do not intend to make specific reference in section 48 either to the records management issue or to the provision of statistics on freedom of information, as proposed by the Senators, I have addressed these issues in the draft code of practice that I published. I hope Senators will have an opportunity to examine the draft code in some detail.

In amendment No. 26, Senator Byrne of the Fianna Fáil Party seeks that a code of practice be drawn up and published within three months of enactment. I hope my decision to publish the draft code of practice last July meets the Senator's concerns.

In amendment No. 29, Senator Byrne seeks to substitute the word "shall" for the word "may" in the sentence, "The code shall include provisions to promote the publication of official and other information", on page 71 of the Bill. I assure Senator Byrne that the Bill already provides that public bodies "shall" prepare and publish publication schemes, which are regarded as best practice internationally for FOI as a means of publishing and disseminating significant information relating to functions and activities of public bodies in a proactive way.

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