Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 19:

In page 8, to delete lines 16 to 39, and in page 9, to delete lines 1 to 16.

Recently the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform came to the House to debate legislation to extend freedom of information provisions. That is the spirit in which we propose this amendment. I am worried about placing any restriction on access to information. The spirit of the time is to open up access to information. For example, whistleblower material will be presented to the Committee of Public Accounts today, while the secret agreements made on minimal corporate tax rates are being opened up for discussion by the OECD. That proves that this is a time to allow access to more information. In fact, it was part of the reforming agenda of the Government to provide more information.
I will outline my concerns about this section of the Bill. Section 7(4)(ii) includes the words "education or training facilities". Can we not find out where the laboratories, computers, libraries and sports fields are located? Is this not information to which parents should have access when deciding where to send their children to school?
There is an aversion to league tables. It seems that because of this aversion we threw out a lot of other useful things. Also, some of the information is needed by the Minister to operate DEIS schools. Information on schools should only be restricted in very limited circumstances such as in asking how did candidate Blogs did in the leaving certificate examinations. It is good to release the rest of the information on schools, including on qualifications and facilities. On the one hand, there is the protection of people's genuine right to privacy, while, on the other, we have wrongly restricted access to information on facilities such as those I have mentioned.

Is that section in the spirit of the times? Do we need to let out more information? Does this help the community to become more involved in schools and help parents in the choices they make? Do we need to be tighter in protecting an individual's privacy while putting out information which would make schools perform better, which is what we all want? That is the purpose of the section.