Campaigners win first victory in Freedom of Information act battle

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday April 02, 2003 18:27 by Aidan - IMC Ireland

Campaigners againist our governments amendment of our freedom of information act claimed their first victory, when Minister Charlie Mc Creevy dropped section 4 of the Act.

Campaigners againist the governments proposed changes to the freedom of information act, approved the dropping of part of the amendment to the freedom of information act. This part of the proposed amendment would have restricted the right of individuals to personal information related to them.

The provision would have placed a restiction on personal records by exempting all records bar those containing specfic personal information. In particular the restriction would have hampered the ability of victims of abuse to obtain all information in relation to their cases, and therefore this amendment came under harsh criticism from the clerical abuse support group "one in four".

The current amendments to the freedom of information act have come under widespread criticism from all aspects of society. The act which was brought in to regain public support in the government after the beef tribunal fiasco, has been widely praised across europe, as a forward piece of legislation, encouraging openess and accountablility in government.