Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 827: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the public bodies and agencies within his Department exempted from the full remit of the Freedom of Information legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2738/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The bodies and agencies under the aegis of my Department that are subject to Freedom of Information legislation, in respect of certain functions only, are Comhairle and the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman. The nature of the exemptions is as follows: For Comhairle, exemption from disclosure, without the consent of the Comhairle board, of confidential information obtained by staff, a committee member or an adviser or consultant to the Comhairle board in the course of their duties; and for the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman, exemption from disclosure, without the consent of the Pensions Ombudsman, of information obtained by employees, advisers or consultants to the Pensions Ombudsman while performing or having performed their duties.

It is intended to make arrangements for these non-disclosure provisions to be overridden by freedom of information. This will require amendments to the Third Schedule of the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003. Following the amendments, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman will be subject to the freedom of information legislation on the same limited basis as applies to any other ombudsman, that is, freedom of information will not apply to a record relating to an examination or investigation carried out by an ombudsman.