Gardaí to remain immune to FOI Act

THE gardaí will remain immune from the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

The Ombudsman and Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly told the Committee on Finance police forces in Scotland and England were both subject to FOI on the same basis as other bodies.

The Department of Finance yesterday confirmed to the committee that the gardaí would remain outside the FOI.

The committee is conducting a review of the 150 statutory secrecy or non-disclosure provisions contained in legislation that exclude them from review under the FOI Act.

Ms O’Reilly told the committee the FOI Act had been comprehensively debated before it was enacted in 1997 and included very strong safeguards to protect the need of public bodies to maintain secrecy in certain situations.

She argued that few of the secrecy provisions added by Government since 1997 had been subject to anything like the same parliamentary scrutiny.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Ms O’Reilly had learned from a member of the public that some functions of the Health and Safety Authority had been removed from the remit of FOI.

Finance yesterday said it had put in place procedures to ensure it would not happen again.

While welcoming an additional 109 bodies being brought within the scope of FOI, Ms O’Reilly said she was concerned this may be a “final round up” and that some bodies may be permanently excluded.

“I am not aware of any pressing reason for the continued omission from FOI of the VEC, the Central Applications Office, the State Examination Commission, the Adoption board, An Garda Síochána and those bodies dealing with asylum applicants,” she said.