SENIOR politicians have called for the repeal of the Official Secrets Act, because the proposed freedom of information legislation will make many of its provisions redundant.
The chairman of the Dail Committee on Legislation and Security, Mr Charles Flanagan (FG, Laois Offaly), told the committee yesterday that the Official Secrets Act should go.
In examining the draft of a freedom of information Bill, the committee was examining how to lift the veil of secrecy, he said. They were seeking to replace the presumption of secrecy with a presumption of openness.
The committee has been examining the draft heads of the Bill, the first time this has been done before a Bill has been approved by Cabinet. It will return to the committee later this year from the Dail.
At yesterday's final hearing, Dr Michael Woods (Fianna Fail) said he was sure the Minister of State, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald, had proposed more than had survived scrutiny by the various Government Departments.
Freedom of information was an instrument for change, but we should be going a good deal farther. Official secrets legislation went too far in preserving information from public gaze. The committee must fully review the Act, he said.
While the freedom of information Bill would initially deal with the public service, other public bodies would be brought under it. "There are layers of secrecy that need to be opened up.
The Minister said her legislation offered protection to a public servant who reported a suspected wrong doing, and disclosed this "through the proper channels", such as the Garda or the Comptroller and Auditor General. The Bill did not offer any protection to a civil servant who disclosed a wrong doing to the media.
The Bill was designed to "set on its head" the Official Secrets Act, because it said that everything was public unless it fell into one of the narrow exempted categories.
Ms Fitzgerald said it made about 90 per cent of the Official Secrets Act redundant. However, there was still a need for certain provisions, such as sanctions for those who released information that would still be secret. There was a need to bring it up to date and she offered to take on this task, if asked by Government.