Gardaí to remain outside remit of FoI act

GARDAÍ and immigration officials are unlikely to be subject to Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation any time soon — despite calls from civil rights campaigners to expand the law to bring them under its remit.

Information commissioner Emily O’Reilly said yesterday there was “no justification” for allowing bodies with so much public power to escape public scrutiny and she called for a thorough review of the legislation and its purpose.

“There is a particular urgency about the need to have public agencies in the areas of policing, asylum and immigration made amenable to the FoI act,” she told a conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the act.