Promise to renew FoI Act is very welcome

Yesterday’s confirmation in the Dáil from Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin that the Government will extend Freedom of Information legislation to all public bodies, including An Garda Síochána and the Central Bank, is very welcome.

This commitment, and that is all it remains, exemplifies the kind of re-engineering required in the relationship between citizens and our public institutions if today’s disenchantment with politics is not to lead to a dangerous vacuum. Basically, after years of being treated like idiots, and too often behaving like idiots, the rejuvenation of the act could represent one step towards restoring the kind of accountability central to all trusting and functioning partnerships.

This reiteration of a commitment to deliver on Fine Gael and Labour election promises reverses the contemptible and profoundly anti-democratic emasculation of that pioneering 1997 legislation — thank you Senator Brendan Ryan — in 2003 by then Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy and junior minister Tom Parlon.

Infamously and shamelessly, not content with giving two fingers to the idea of accountability in our public affairs, they also gave two fingers to our parliament and bolted to the Cheltenham horse-racing festival, leaving a junior colleague to introduce the crippling amendments. Enda Kenny said at the time the revision “effectively applied a tourniquet to the flow of information”. Time has proven him right, but of course that was the objective of the McCreevy/Parlon blackguarding. This instance epitomised the cynical, self-serving slapstick that for far too long passed for politics in Ireland and, in cringe-inducing hindsight, how bucolically tolerant we were.

Ironically, Mr Howlin’s commitment yesterday came in response to a Fianna Fáil proposal, made through a private member’s bill, to expand the legislation’s remit.

Not to be outdone, Mr Howlin promised that strengthened FoI legislation would include all statutory bodies and also be applicable to bodies that receive substantial state funding. This is just as it should be as, for too long, far too much direct and indirect public expenditure has remained a mystery to all but those directly involved — or those who benefit directly.

Just as we advocated in recent days, the administrative functions of An Garda Síochána will be included in the legislation, subject to security exemptions. This is as it should be and hopefully the force will embrace this and see it as an essential tool for any organisation dependent on the support and trust of the community it polices.

Our default culture of secrecy has done this country no favours. The silence it facilitates and the ignorance it entrenches carried a very heavy price. If, for instance, the 1999 Department of Finance warning about a property bubble had been made public would we have been eventually obliged to mortgage our country’s future? Would we have carried on to the point where we had to be rescued from ourselves by the EU and the International Monetary Fund?

As the great revolution in the dissemination of information continues apace, and who knows how it will evolve, safeguards such as a rejuvenated Freedom of Information Act are essential. Those who would strengthen it are to be encouraged and supported. They must, however, be reminded of their commitment until a more effective Freedom of Information Act is enacted and contributing to a strong culture of transparency and accountability.