Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

166. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if business improvement districts established under the Local Government (Business Improvement Districts) Act 2006 will be brought under the Freedom of Information Act. [15880/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Under the governing legislation, a Business Improvement District company is required to be limited by guarantee and formed and registered under the Companies Act. The board of directors will be made up of businesses or their representatives and nominees of the local authority. At least two thirds of the directors must be ratepayers or ratepayer representatives.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 a company (within the meaning of the Companies Act ) is not an FOI body for the purposes of the Act unless a majority of the shares are held by or on behalf of a Minister of the Government, a requirement which is not met in the case of a BID company. The Freedom of Information Act 2014 is under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform; in the context of the next review of the scope of application of the FOI legislation, I will arrange for the question of the inclusion of BID companies to be considered.