Culture of secrecy - FoI a figment of former ambition

IT WOULD be too easy to react to the news that 10 weeks after the tragic deaths of the Dunne family in Wexford an internal Garda inquiry has not been completed by questioning Garda efficiency.

That an independent Government inquiry into how State agencies responded to the all-too-obvious plight of Adrian and Ciara Dunne and their two daughters cannot begin its work until it has all the relevant information from the gardaí and the Health Service Executive adds to that sense of frustration with an apparent lack of commitment to bring these matters to a speedy conclusion.

But we should not be surprised. Our culture of secrecy and a visceral reluctance to put public information in a public forum has not served us well and has acted as a shield for at the very least inefficiency and possibly even corruption.