Taoiseach says new Bill will change FOI Act

Releasing Cabinet papers after five years under the Freedom of Information Act, will create "major difficulties" for issues such as the peace process which are still current, the Taoiseach insisted in the Dáil.

Mr Ahern had "no problem" with information about other matters "no matter how inconvenient", such as expenses or who he had lunch with or where "or how much petrol my car uses".

"If that is of interest to the public, I have no problem with it because it involves public money. Every day I am asked questions about how many dinners I had and how many courses there were." However, "Cabinet papers are different. Perhaps 30 years is too long but five is far too short." They could not have a five-year release rule because in relation to the North, they were "dealing with the same people, the same process and the same issues".

A Bill to change the current FOI Act will come before the Government next week and will be in the Dáil within a fortnight, Mr Ahern told the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny who raised the matter during Question Time.

Under the FOI Act introduced by the Rainbow coalition in 1997, Cabinet papers would become available after five years, from April this year. In the first public clarification of why the Government will increase the time limit for the release of papers, Mr Ahern said that, "later today I am dealing with Northern Ireland matters and the Good Friday Agreement which was negotiated five years ago. If the papers were available about the same issues being negotiated today, there would be major difficulties. It is not possible to reduce the period to five years when one is dealing with the same people, same process and same issues." On issues such as expenses and lunches and what restaurants he went to, he said that "if people want to waste their Sunday mornings reading that stuff, it is their business. I would rather watch the under eights playing football." Mr Kenny said that if a change was being brought about because of the Taoiseach's personal wish, or a recommendation from the group which reviewed the legislation, it would increase cynicism and scepticism about the working of the Act.

Mr ahern claimed some some released information was abused, giving the example of Council of Europe business undertaken by some deputies, which was "arduous work though some people want to cynically say it is just travel".

All the figures were added in and counted as salary, he said. "That is an abuse of information and I feel bad about it because although I am not a backbencher currently, I may be at some time in the future. The information provided should be used properly and not distorted. I have a major problem with that because it creates huge difficulties for people." Mr Kenny expressed concern about the integrity of the operation of the legislation by public servants and wondered if there were "no shenanigans or looseness". He believed information, only available in the Department of Justice had been released about a party colleague, Mr Jim O'Keeffe, on representations he made while Fine Gael was in Government. This could have been done because he sought relevant information about prison committee appointments.

Mr Ahern said the Act was "rigorous in its application". The officials who operated it were "totally independent". He said it would be a "serious breach" if information was released improperly, but he would refer the matter to the Minister for Justice.