O'Reilly 'disappointed' Garda not subject to FOI

The Information Commissioner has described it as "quite extraordinary" that An Garda Síochána has not been made subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

Speaking at the publication of her office's annual report, Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly said she welcomed the fact that 109 new public bodies had been included under the scope of the Act last year.

However, many of these organisations would have little contact with the public. She said she was "disappointed" that others, notably An Garda Síochána, the Garda Ombudsman, the Office of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, the Central Bank, the CAO, the 33 Vocational Educational Committees, the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority and the Residential Institutions Redress Board, remained inaccessible.

In particular, there were a large number of Garda issues that the public would have an interest in, Ms O'Reilly said. Such interest would not constitute an intrusion, she insisted, noting that police forces in the United Kingdom had recently become subject to FOI and "the heavens haven't fallen in". She said requests on the administration of An Garda Siochana could be allowed, while those referring to criminal investigations should be excluded.

In her report, Ms O'Reilly also said she was concerned at the delay in the implementation of the Health Service Executive's (HSE) promise to publish its reports on private nursing homes, citing the recent Leas Cross case as an example of how vital it is for such reports to be made public.

"Some of our most vulnerable citizens are living in these places," she said. "The best way to protect them is by inspections and by publishing results of these inspections."

It is understood the HSE is reviewing how such reports are dealt with in other jurisdictions before proceeding.

On school inspection reports, Ms O'Reilly noted the Department of Education and Science's position on the reports - being in favour of publishing a restricted version of the results - was the same as that called for by her predecessor, Kevin Murphy, in March 2003.

While she welcomed this change in position, she said it was "regrettable that the journey to this position included diversions to both the High Court and the Supreme Court and to legal costs of almost €300,000 being borne by the public purse".

The commissioner said it was "inevitable" that secondary school reports would include information on academic results. "It is unrealistic, for as long as entry to third level is based on a points system, to believe that parents will be satisfied with information on schools that does not include some details on academic achievements."

The report, Ms O'Reilly's third as Information Commissioner, showed there were a total of 14,616 FOI requests made to public bodies in 2005. This was an increase of 16 per cent on the previous year, but a decline of 21 per cent on 2003.

Most of the increased requests in 2005 were to the Department of Education from clients of the Residential Institutions Redress Board. As the final date for applications to this board has passed, Ms O'Reilly predicted there will be a significant drop in the total number of FOI requests for 2006.

The proportion of FOI requests made by journalists fell from a high of 20 per cent in 2001 to just 6.5 per cent last year.

Labour's finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said Ms O'Reilly was justified in expressing her disappointment that so many public bodies are not covered by FOI legislation. She claimed Fianna Fail had "gutted" the original act, which was introduced by the Rainbow Government "to ensure openness and to guarantee access to information to which the public is entitled".

She said the Labour Party was committed to restoring the act to its original form.

The Green Party also said that if it was in the next Government, it would reinstate the Freedom of Information Act in its original form. Finance spokesman Dan Boyle said his party would have the Garda and other bodies included in any new legislation.