The Minister for Justice has voiced stinging criticism of the Information Commissioner, accusing him of overstepping his powers by warning of flaws in the proposed amendments to the Freedom of Information Act, writes Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent
Mr McDowell was accused by Fine Gael of trying to bully an independent office-holder into silence as sustained rows between the Government and the Opposition over the planned changes broke out in the Dail and Seanad.
The commissioner, Mr Kevin Murphy, said yesterday the Government's plans could result in costly litigation. They could also lead to an "inappropriate relationship" between ministers and secretaries-general of government departments as well as refusals to reveal information currently released under the Act, he said.
Mr McDowell's party colleague, Senator John Minihan echoed his comments. "People employed in positions such as the Information Commisioner, their job is to act within the confines of legislation that is put before them, not to comment on proposed legislation," he said during a Seanad debate on the Government's proposed changes.
Speaking in the Dail on a Labour Bill to postpone the changes for a year, Mr McDowell claimed that Mr Murphy's commentary "perhaps exemplifies one of the problems of the Act: it has been pushed very, very vigorously". He added that he was not criticising Mr Murphy for "vigour in carrying out his work".
The Information Commissioner is the officer appointed on foot of a resolution of the Oireachtas to oversee independently the operation of the Act. He made his remarks in a commentary on the operation of the sections of the Act proposed for amendment.
Mr Murphy declined to comment last night on Mr McDowell's criticisms. In his document, he said he was only commenting on the operation of the sections of the existing Freedom of Information Act which were proposed for amendment. He said he did not intend to give his views of the Government's plans.
However, Mr McDowell last night accused Mr Murphy of having "strayed across his self-imposed line" between commenting on the current Act and the Government's Bill.
He maintained that the commissioner had relied on a provision allowing him to comment on the operation of the current Act "to justify the particular observations he has to make. Without passing any more severe criticism of him, it is abundantly clear that section 39 does not entitle him to comment on Bills." Mr Richard Bruton of Fine Gael condemned Mr McDowell's "attack" on an independent office-holder. "It is an attempt to bully the Information Commissioner into silence and it is a reprehensible act for a minister in his position," he said.
Earlier yesterday, in documents released to Fine Gael under the Freedom of Information Act, it emerged that the Department of Finance last month rejected a request from the Information Commissioner for a meeting to discuss the proposed amendment of the Bill.
Mr Murphy is to give evidence before an Oireachtas committee tomorrow on the subject. In his commentary yesterday, he said there were two key amendments which could create serious legal and other problems in the future and which had the potential to result in costly litigation "possibly involving my Office".
He said the amendment which defined papers of committees of officials as Government papers which could be exempted from release left scope for legal cases about what committees were exempt.
Also, the provision allowing secretaries-general of government departments to issue certificates effectively directing a minister not to release documents ran contrary to the accepted relationship between secretaries-general and ministers, he said.
The Government last night voted down a series of amendments in the Seanad as senators complained bitterly about the fact that the two Ministers with parliamentary responsibility for the Bill, Mr Charlie McCreevy and Mr Tom Parlon, were at the Cheltenham races.