Bannon – Freedom of Information Bill 2013 to bring transparency and reform to government (Speech)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Freedom of Information Bill 2013. This is a hugely important bill which seeks to restore FOI legislation to its pre-2003 state and to extend its remit to the vast majority of public bodies.

Under the 2011 ‘Programme for Government’ this government committed to introducing Freedom of Information reform legislation, to restore the FOI Act to its pre-2003 status and to extend its remit to other public bodies including the administrative side of the Garda Síochána. A commitment was also given to extend the Act to ensure that all statutory bodies and bodies significantly funded from the public purse are covered.

This legislation brings a whole raft of public bodies under the ambit of FOI for the first time, including, Nama, the Central Bank, and the National Treasury Management Agency and as already mentioned An Garda Síochána

 

The enactment of the Emergency Powers Act 1939 and the amendment and strengthening of the Official Secrets Act in 1963 are examples of a traditional lack of transparency on the part of a centralised and secretive state.

Ireland joining the EEC in 1973 and in particular the attendance of Irish civil servants at EEC meetings has been credited for creating a cultural shift within the civil service, with greater recognition for the need for a more open bureaucracy within the service. Certain EU legislation, in particular directives on access to environmental information, contributed to the shift, as these required Ireland to make all information relevant to the environment available to the public. Further measures leading to greater transparency included the strengthening of the powers of Auditor General.

In 1997, under the Fine Gael lead rainbow coalition, the Freedom of Information Act was brought into law. At the time, the enactment of this bill was seen as the key to delivering openness and transparency in Government.

The Freedom of Information Act 1997 established

ï‚· a right of access to records held by a public body;

ï‚· a right to be given reasons for a decision;

ï‚· where personal information in a record is incomplete, incorrect or misleading, a right to amend the record;

ï‚· a right of a person to information regarding acts of public bodies affecting that person.

 

 

 

In April 2003, the Act was amended by way of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act 2003.

Key changes made by the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act 2003 were the:

 Extension of the period of protection for Government records from five to ten years;

 Mandatory protection of Government records or records to be submitted to Government;

 Full protection of communications between Ministers relating to issues under consideration by the Government;

 Protection of records relating to the working of committees of officials and advisers assisting the Government in carrying out its work;

 Provision enabling the Minister for Finance to prescribe fees for the making of a request for access to non-personal records and for any subsequent application for internal review and or review by the Information Commissioner;

The introduction of fees in particular, was predicted to result in fewer FOI requests. A substantial drop in FOI usage after the introduction of the 2003 Act did in fact arise, attributed in the main to the introduction of fees.

The 2003 changes were made to the Act by the then Fianna Fail led Government who were determined to bring back the shroud of secrecy that had hidden away the dealings of their government.  

There is no doubt that the inadvertent release under FOI, after the general election in 2002, of records covering government spending have been noted as a possible factor in the decision to amend the FOI Act in 2003.

The released information under the FOI act showed that the Department of Finance and the then finance Minister were warning about the economic situation deteriorating and the need for cuts across all departments. But in the run up to the election, Ministers had publicly and repeatedly denied that spending cuts were necessary. The embarrassment caused by the release was a driving factor in the revision of the 1997 Act.

There seems to be a common factor here, a Fianna Fail government comes to power and interferes with the system to suit themselves and Fine Gael have to come in to fix the mess. We are fixing the mess that the country was left in and we are reforming a system that demands it and creating a system that the Irish people deserve because they certainly did not deserve the system that led us into one of the worst economic crisis to hit our nation.

 

The Freedom of Information Bill 2013 seeks to restore FOI legislation to its pre-2003 state and to extend its remit to all public bodies, subject to some exemptions.

Citizens, as shareholders in public bodies, should have the right to examine and review the deliberations and processes of public bodies.