FoI Act - Coalition’s cloak of secrecy

IT would appear the Freedom of Information Act (FoI Act) is used by the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition to maintain a cloak of secrecy around sensitive areas, rather than act as an instrument of transparency for the public.

The revelations made by a Dublin newspaper yesterday in relation to an unpublished report by Ombudsman and Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly, which it claimed to have seen, are very disturbing.

According to that report, the Government has introduced significant changes to the FoI Act surreptitiously, without consulting her office, as well as the fact 15 Government departments have excluded certain bodies and information from its provisions.

The report, submitted to the Oireachtas Finance Committee last month, raises serious questions as to why some critical agencies, such as the gardaí and Adoption Board, as well as the Central Bank, remain outside the province of the FoI Act.

It is inconceivable that the Health and Safety Authority should also be excluded, and it is symptomatic of the Government’s contempt for the office of the ombudsman that she should discover it was through a query from a member of the public.