JOHN BRADY,
Madam, - I have read the recent Irish Times reports on the proposed restrictions on the Freedom of Information Act and consider them extremely retrograde. I have spent much of my previous working life in the public sector in Ireland and in international organisations abroad. I have direct experience of the FOI act in operation and readily recognise that it can be problematic, irritating, confusing, expensive, and frequently provide only one view of "reality".
However, I also recognised, as did many of my colleagues, that its introduction was the defining moment in the democratisation of our public function. It provided every citizen (and not just journalists and cranks) with the means to hold the institutions of government and the public sector to task for their actions in ways that much of the rest of the democratic process failed to do so.
It is hard for me to imagine that a Cabinet that contains Bertie Ahern, Mary Harney, Charlie McCreevy, Noel Dempsey, Brian Cowen, Michéal Martin, etc., would feel the need for protection from anyone for the privacy of their robust discussions, bilaterally or as a group. I am left therefore with the impression that this is a classic civil service knee-jerk response, extending the cloak of non-disclosure for no genuine purpose.
The charges being proposed should be dropped. The nature of democracy is essentially about common access for all. The price that is paid for this is sometimes an apparently disproportionate charge for ensuring such access, even for those who might appear undeserving or wealthy enough to pay. Recently the EU took the Government to task for introducing charges on objections to planning applications - the principle is the same. If the true cost of even the most modest FOI request was properly assessed it could not be responded to for less than €500. The charges therefore are meant to deter - not just vexatious requests that are already precluded, but also the passive majority who might baulk at just such an apparently trivial barrier.
The Freedom of Information Act, more than any other single action in the past decade, has opened the operation of government to citizens. It should be defended from the prevarications of the faceless. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN BRADY,
Dublin Road,
Trim,
Co Meath.
Madam, - Perhaps my ears were deceiving me, but I think I heard the above described as the "Freedom from Information Act" on "It Says in the Papers" on RTÉ Radio 1 last Sunday morning.
In the light of the current Government proposals to introduce severe restrictions on the operation of the Act, I wonder if this slip of the tongue was prophetic? - Yours, etc.,
M.D. KENNEDY,
Silchester Park,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.