Report backs call to extend reach of FoI law

An Oireachtas committee has backed calls from information commissioner Emily O’Reilly to extend freedom of information legislation to all new state bodies and to remove some existing exemptions.

A finance committee report on the draft heads of a new FoI bill, however, stressed an absolute exemption should apply in all cases relating to national security.

It also recommended that there should be qualified exceptions that are subject to a public interest test. Such a test should oblige a state body to publicly explain why it should not release information, the report said.