Parish-pump politics prevail despite FoI laws

PARISH-PUMP politics are still alive and well despite laws giving citizens greater access to public services and information with which councillors and TDs have traditionally helped them.

This view has emerged strongly from academic research among senior officials in town, city and county councils who are tasked with assessing requests under Freedom of Information (FoI) laws in effect since 1998.

More than half of the country’s 324 local authority FoI decision-makers took part in the survey by University College Cork law professor Maeve McDonagh. She found a strong perception among these officials (from departments such as housing, planning and environmental services) that the law has improved record-keeping because of the increased likelihood of documents being retrieved at a later date, as well as raising transparency and accountability.