Back-door methods were being used to avoid giving information under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, an Oireachtas committee was told yesterday.
Member of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Richard Bruton TD (FG) said the Department of Finance was gradually eroding FOI by bringing in new provisions and legislation.
The committee is beginning a review of the FOI Act 1997 and looking at the exclusion of a range of public bodies from its remit.
Mr Bruton said: "The committee should start the review of the way the department is using back-door methods of avoiding giving information and creating exemptions of FOI."
Vice-chairman Michael Finneran TD (FF) said they would invite the Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly to come to the committee as a first step.
The commissioner has written a report complaining about the exclusion of a number of bodies from FOI.
He said they would also invite the secretary-general of the department who might give an insight into how some of the decisions were reached.
Fianna Fáil Senator Martin Mansergh said he had all along been in favour of FOI.
There had been very considerable FOI legislation to a whole raft of bodies. They had to be realistic about the work of the Government especially in sensitive areas.
FOI had certain effects, for example it had led to civil servants being less frank on paper, he said.
"There is an over-simplistic view that FOI is always good and non-disclosure is always bad. Non-disclosure can sometimes be in the public interest," he said.
He was pleased there was a reasonably liberal FOI scheme but to think that they would get everything perfect was unrealistic, he said.
Joan Burton TD (Lab) said new measures had been used by the Government as a major roll-back and another 50 bodies were now not subject to FOI.
She said the Department of Justice regularly slipped non-disclosure provisions into new legislation.
"New legislation is rigorously and systematically removing new bodies from FOI," she said.
"This committee needs to take a more pro-active role about FOI," she added.