Speaking at the publication of the Freedom of Information Act this week, Bertie Ahern deviated briefly from his prepared speech to make a not-so-subtle plea to the assembled media.

Those of us who would be writing or reporting on the Act should not expect perfection, he said, before returning to the script. "Profound change is never easy, and miracles will not happen overnight," he said.

The Taoiseach may have been unduly concerned. A considerable amount of time and training has been invested in the introduction of what is being heralded as a radical departure from the culture of secrecy which Irish public life embodied. While somewhat short of miraculous, early indications suggest that the public bodies covered by FoI have really got their Act together. It's early days, but even the most cynical would be impressed by the common sense and courtesy of the new breed of civil servants known as FoI officers.

Admittedly, those operating the switchboard in various departments are still getting to grips with this recently evolved species. Members of the public should be prepared to be directed to a few other employees before eventually finding their FoI adviser. In the Department of Justice, Brendan Foy was patient when a request for every piece of information held on this reporter was made. Personal records are free of charge under the Act.

While the Act does provide the right to have access to personal information held "no matter when the information was created", trawling expeditions are not encouraged. In fact, requests can be refused if the retrieval of information is deemed to cause "substantial and unreasonable" disruption of the normal running of the public body concerned.

Mr Foy's advice to information-seekers was to be as specific as possible. Under the Act, FoI officers are obliged to make genuine efforts to help people obtain information. The FoI application form he faxed was helpful and afforded an insight into the type of records the Department holds.

Everything is included from the courts to the prisons to immigration. Applicants choose their preferred form of access - post or other method - and simply sign and return the form. The body has two weeks to acknowledge the application and four more weeks to reply.

According to Aine Stapleton of the Department of Finance, from where the Act is co-ordinated, there have been a small number of inquiries since the Act was introduced on Tuesday. "We anticipate that most of them will be requests for personal information such as social welfare records and tax records," she says. In other countries where similar acts have long been enforced, 90 per cent of queries come from members of the general public.

Journalists, however, are already gearing up to test the Act, a tricky task given that access to non-personal records is limited to files created since the Act was enforced.

Asked whether it would be possible to obtain copies of any legal advice given to the Minister for Defence by the Attorney General in relation to the Army deafness debacle, the Defence FoI spokesman said "Nice try".

He quoted Section 22 of the Act which states that a request can be refused if it would be exempt from production in court on the grounds of legal privilege. Other grounds for exemption include records relating to government meetings, law enforcement and security.

Under the Act, an application could be pursued despite this advice and a refusal appealed right through to the Act's Information Commissioner, Kevin Murphy. Applications can even go as far as the High Court if contested on a point of law.

The next few weeks should prove interesting as the first applications are answered and a nation learns more about itself than was ever before possible. But there are sticking points. The retrieval of non-personal information will be charged at £16.50 per hour, a fact which has irked the National Union of Journalists which says it may put people off looking for data.

The Let in the Light organisation believes the legislation will only be effective if seekers are "well prepared to use it effectively and push out its boundaries".

For Joe and Josephine Murphy, however, the Act will serve immediately to illuminate some of the shadier corners of Irish public life. By the time the health boards and local authorities come under it in October, something approaching a miracle in transparency terms may indeed have come to pass.

Let in the Light is holding a conference, "Making Freedom of Information Work", for journalists and citizens' organisations in Dublin City University on June 12th and 13th.