Proposed changes to the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act shows the Government is smug, arrogant and dishonest, Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, told the Dáil this evening. But the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said the amendments were not a fundamental change in the public's right to access information.
While the ministers responsible for the proposed changes, Mr Charlie McCreevy and Mr Tom Parlon, were in Cheltenham, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was forced to defend the proposals, which he said could increase Government accountability.
But the angry political reaction to the proposals increased today when Fine Gael leader Mr Enda Kenny revealed that the Information Commissioner, Mr Kevin Murphy, whose job is to adjudicate on disputes over FOI requests, had not been consulted about the changes.
Mr Kenny revealed that an FOI request had revealed that the Office of the Information Commissioner wrote to the Department of Finance on February 3rd seeking consultation on the Government's proposed amendment to the Act.
The Government Bill changing the Act, is being rushed through the Oireachtas, and is based solely on a report by five high-ranking civil servants. The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Opposition parties are furious about not being consulted.
"Not only did the High Level Group decline to consult with the Information Commissioner, but two months after its report had been completed [in December 2002], the Department of Finance still had not sought the views of the Information Commissioner on legislation which they were drafting," Mr Kenny said.
NUJ Irish Secretary Mr Seamus Dooley earlier this evening attacked the Government's failure to consult relevant parties. "The review was carried out in private. There was no public consultation and no attempt to take on board the view of staff or users of the Act ... Clearly as far as this Government is concerned Freedom of Information and the rights of citizens are not at the races."
Mr Rabbitte continued the assault in the Dáil this evening. "The acronym which is most appropriate to this Government, with all its pretensions to being a new aristocracy, is SAD - smug, arrogant, and dishonest," he said.
The amendment afforded the Government too much freedom from scrutiny, he said. "This Government in particular is more in need of scrutiny and accountability than ever."
Proposing an alternative Bill in Dáil this evening, Mr Rabbitte said: "It is clear that the Government's purpose is not to amend the Act, but to neuter it."
But Mr Ahern defended the changes saying the new rules would be "more liberal". He said the spirit of the Act would not be diminished by the restrictions, which include a ten-year moratorium on releasing Cabinet papers, and the exemption of correspondence between minister and the expert advice they receive.
He said the rules applied to the cabinet carrying out it s responsibilities. "We should stop trying to give the impression that this changing fundamental rights," he said.
The Bill is before the Seanad at committee stage this evening.