Irish Examiner view: A vital cog deliberately undermined

Freedom of Information Act

John Devitt, chief executive of Transparency International Ireland.

It is hardly surprising, in a country where the parliament discussed locking adoption records away for 75 years until everyone involved in that scandal was with O’Leary in the grave, that a modest concession to accountability has been described as unfit for purpose. We may have enacted legislation to facilitate access to information but our old, instinctive cowering from the light of exposure endures.

There are few Western countries where official secrecy is such a misused sanctuary. Civic campaigners have expressed growing concern around the effectiveness of our Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation. Its essential role in underpinning faith in our public affairs, they suggest, has been deliberately diluted.