FOI consultation never proposed

Information Commissioner Kevin Murphy hit back at Justice Minister Michael McDowell yesterday over criticisms of his involvement in the Freedom of Information Act row.

Meanwhile, the five top civil servants who drew up the report which formed the basis for the FOI restrictions confirmed that their remit from the Government did not include consulting with interested parties, such as Mr Murphy’s office.

The High Level Group also said it was originally thought their report would only be part of the deliberative process in creating the legislation.

Yet the government not only went on to adopt the recommendations in full but went even further with its proposed restrictions, without any further consultation.

Speaking at a Oireachtas committee hearing into the controversial amendments to the act, Mr Murphy rejected Minister McDowell’s accusation that he had entered into a political issue by publishing a highly critical commentary on the proposed legislation.

“It has been claimed that I have strayed across my own self-imposed political neutrality line. I totally reject that. Civil servants and politicians are keenly aware of and sensitive to the distinction between policy and implementation,” he said.

Adding that he would have wished to make his feelings known to the department when the law was being drafted, Mr Murphy reiterated that he was not given the chance to contribute.

Under the proposed amendments, parents involved in organ retention cases would not be able to access their children’s hospital records, he pointed out.

Just after last year’s election, the High Level Group was asked to make recommendations on certain aspects of the FOI Act.

Secretary general in the department of An Taoiseach Dermot McCarthy said the report was intended to distil the High Level Group’s assessment and experience, but that the question of consultation was a matter for the government.

“The question of consulting with anyone did not arise, other than taking account of what was in the public domain already,” he said.

But Mr McCarthy denied that the exemption from the Act of communications between Ministers and advisory groups was proposed to prevent the advice of civil servants being scrutinised in public.

There were no examples where the publication of cabinet documents had damaged the operations of the Government, he said.