PDs critical of proposed FoI Act changes

CHANGES to the Freedom of Information Act will limit access to personal information, according to Progressive Democrats TD Fiona O’Malley.

Criticising the Government's controversial legislation yesterday, the Dun Laoghaire TD said she had a number of misgivings and felt the public should have been consulted.

Yet despite all her reservations, Deputy O'Malley said she will still be voting with the Government on the bill in the Dáil. "I feel confident my concerns will be addressed," she said.

But the Green Party attacked the PDs for backing the changes to the FoI Act, saying that they were failing to protect and enhance the rights of citizens. The Greens' finance spokesman Dan Boyle said the PDs were supposed to be a liberal party, yet claimed the new legislation would improve the quality of democracy.

"Given the many lectures on openness, transparency and accountability we have heard from the PDs, can that party point to any piece of legislation that they have been involved with that has helped improve citizens' rights?

"Can they point to any measure in this bill that will improve citizens' rights? They cannot, because they know their commitment to these rights is less than their commitment to being and remaining in government," Deputy Boyle said.

Deputy O'Malley's biggest problem with the proposed changes related to the right of abuse victims to access their personal records.

"I do believe this amendment, if allowed to be incorporated into the act, will have a profound effect on the information that would be available to abuse victims," she said.

"Important information in the redress process non-personal information related to their incarceration would be denied."

The Government's failure to consult more widely on the changes fed the public's cynical view of the political process, she added.

"There is no doubt that in a Republic where government is governing for the people and by the people, the people should have been consulted," she said.

"The Government's handling of this issue has done nothing to advance the standing of politics in the public's mind," she said.