Civil in the service of the public interest

WHILE the ministers are away, the civil servants will play.

The five Sir Humphreys who drew up the blueprint for the Freedom of Information restrictions passed the buck to their jet-setting political masters yesterday.

Only following orders was the message from the country’s five top civil servants, when asked by the Oireachtas Finance committee why they had failed to consult with anyone on their nefarious plans.

Department of An Taoiseach secretary general Dermot McCarthy said no one told them to talk to anyone else and the consultation lark was a matter for the government.

After listening to the group’s observations, Progressive Democrats TD Fiona O’Malley said the report was obviously intended to be just one ingredient in the delicacy that was being concocted.

Feeling exceptionally optimistic, Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming pointed out that even outside FOI, confidential papers could still be released.

Accurately summarising the situation, Independent TD Liam Twomey said a lot of credibility had been given to the high level group yet there was no rigorous examination or root and branch review of the legislation. Ministers were only informally consulted and the Information Commissioner was excluded.

“Am I misreading the situation?” he asked Mr McCarthy.

At least Mr McCarthy was brutally honest in his response:

“Not entirely. We saw that our advice would be an input into the decision-making. We were asked to focus in particular on certain issues.”

Then, as Independent Senator Joe O’Toole stated from his personal experience, there never was any hope of getting to the bottom of the matter with these shrewd operators.

“I can assure the committee that if we are here until 12 tonight we will not lay a glove on these people,” he said.

Emerging unscathed from their three hours of interrogation, the five Sir Humphreys headed back to their jobs of running the nation in the public interest.