CALL TO ACTION: HANDS OFF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT!

Tuesday February 11, 2003 11:40

by Cathal

Suggestions that the government are looking to waterdown the Freedom of Information Act.

A colleague passed on this information to me this morning and it deserves to get as much public space as possible. If you work with or are affiliated with organisations where this may be relevant then please pass it on.

The Freedom of Information Act which came into operation in April 1998
is a powerful tool for individual citizens and for community and
campaigning organisations.

It gives individuals a right to see information about them on public
file, and to seek to correct it where it is inaccurate. It guarantees
that the rules and guidelines about personal entitlements must be
published, and provides that someone cannot be put at a disadvantage by
virtue of "secret" or unpublished rules or criteria. It gives citizens
the right to reasons for public decisions that affect them, with the
findings of fact linked to the rule or criterion in question.

The Act is a valuable tool for campaigning organisations. It gives a
legal right to factual information and to expert reports used in
arriving at public decisions. It gives a right to see public files,
subject to specified exemptions. It gives a legal right to see policy
files, after the event, which is an important check on the process of
decision making.

This legal right to access information goes a long way to ensure
accountability of public organisations and to level the pitch between
community organisations and the public agencies with whom they negotiate

Two media reports on 3rd and 4th February suggest the government have in
mind a serious watering down of the provisions of the Irish Act which
has been widely hailed internationally. (The Scottish legislation, for
example, closely follows the Irish model.)

A report in the Irish Times of Tuesday 4th February suggests that
additional grounds for exemption will be added, and that restrictions
will be placed on individual’s rights to see their own records.

The exemptions to the Act already reflect best international practice.
They protect personal and commercial privacy, information given in
confidence, information that could prejudice a trial, information that
could harm security, defence, international relations, or matters
relating to Northern Ireland. Policy discussions are protected until
after the decision to which they relate has been made. Genuinely
sensitive material is already well protected, and any further exemptions
would represent a watering down of the public’s right to know.

While searching and retrieving of an individual’s records can be
difficult if records go a long way back, the Act already contains
provisions (which have not been used) for the Minister for Finance to
make regulations in relation to records management. Without amending the
existing Act, protocols could be implemented on how long records on
individuals need to be kept in any individual organisation.

An item on RTE radio’s News at One suggests that the Government will
amend the provision of the FOI Act which will mean memoranda for
government become available after five years. Misleadingly, the radio
item suggested sensitive information and Cabinet discussions could
become available under this section, something already precluded under
the Act. Indeed, the factual information in cabinet memoranda can be
accessed, and the full memorandum can be accessed if relevant to Court
proceedings (cf Dublin Corporation v. Ambiorix).

We should be alert to the dangers of watering down
existing rights incorporated in the FOI Act and make it a public issue.

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CALL TO ACTION: HANDS OFF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT!