Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for proposing the amendment. It is similar to a number of amendments that have been put forward. We debated the issue of the language of "may" versus "shall" on a number of occasions. As we know, the Bill places obligations on relevant bodies to provide a summary of all relevant records they hold, including information to which the application does not relate. This amendment, in my view, is unnecessary as the relevant bodies will already be providing a statement in all cases where it makes sense to do so. As I said, that will be in the vast majority of cases. There may be situations where one document is being released where a statement is not necessary, but otherwise it will always be the case that the supporting statement is forthcoming.

The open approach to the provision of information will be reiterated through the guidelines which will empower the Minister. They will stipulate that an enabling approach should be undertaken, whereby bodies should release any information over and above the categories of information set out in the Bill, except where they would be prohibited by law from doing so. In light of that, I do not believe this amendment is necessary.