Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I hear what the Senators have said. The amendments, taken together, seek the deletion of the entire list of exempt bodies. By and large, I want to exempt only two categories of bodies, namely, commercial bodies and North-South bodies. It is wrong to expect commercial companies that happen to be owned by the State, but operate on the same playing field as their competitors, to be subject to FOI, including FOI requests by their competitors. It would spancil the capacity of commercial semi-State companies to operate in that realm. This is their strong argument to me and I strongly adhere to this view. Unless one held the view that we should not have commercial semi-State companies, one would have to allow them to operate as commercial entities on the same playing field as everybody else. I have already explained that the North-South bodies cannot be included because they are part of the Good Friday Agreement, an international agreement that we would probably have to renegotiate and, probably, have another referendum on, to alter in substance, and this is impossible. Senator Byrne raised the issue of the harbours.