Govt to reveal proposed changes to FoI Act

The Department of Finance is due to publish legislation today aimed at curtailing the 1997 Freedom of Information Act.

The act was introduced to give the public access to almost all correspondence and written documents relating to the activity of Government departments and semi-state bodies.

However, just six years after it came into law, the Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrats coalition is proposing changes to water down the act, which has been used as a template for freedom of information legislation in several other countries.

The proposed changes are believed to include an extension of the current five-year moratorium on the release of Cabinet papers and restrictions on the release of communications between senior civil servants and Government ministers.

The current act already allows the Government to withhold information on the grounds of national security.