So the right to freedom of official information is not a right at all. It is a service to be paid for by those who can afford it. Having meddled with the concept of open government with insidious changes in the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act a couple of months ago, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has continued his campaign to limit access to information about government and public bodies.
A new scale of mandatory charges will be introduced next Monday requiring members of the public to pay €15 up-front for an FOI request, €75 for an internal appeal and €150 for a final appeal. Requests for personal information will be free. And, in a typical Fianna Fáil twist, there will be a scale of reduced charges for holders of medical cards and their dependants accessing and appealing information.
In her first exposure to the official culture of secrecy, the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner, Ms Emily O'Reilly, has registered her displeasure. No prior warning was given to her office. There was no communication yesterday about the nature of the regulations to impose or collect the charges.
Announcing the payments-for-openness regime, Mr McCreevy stressed that the new fee structure would lead to a "better appreciation" of a service which has been estimated to cost hundreds of euro per FOI request. A substantial number of users of the FOI Act would be either unaffected or would qualify for a reduced fee. Figures released by the Ombudsman's Office yesterday, however, show that 51 per cent of FOI requests were personal, 46 per cent were non-personal and 3 per cent were mixed last year. A further breakdown demonstrates that 12 per cent of requests came from journalists, 11 per cent from business, 1 per cent from members of the Oireachtas, 7 per cent from the staff of public bodies and 69 per cent from others.
The scale of charges conflicts with the purpose of the FOI Act to enable members of the public to obtain access to information to the greatest extent possible. The FOI Act was skewed to the political advantage of this Coalition Government with the amendments made by the Minister, Mr McCreevy, some months ago.
The definition of "Government" was changed to include "a committee of officials". Access can now be refused to records which consist of communications between members of the Government and information or advice from certain civil servants, advisers or others who may be prescribed, if it is for use primarily in the transaction of Government business.
What could not be limited by legislation then is now being further restricted by charges. The basic €15 for a request for public information is comparable to that in other fee-paying FOI jurisdictions. But the high charge of €240 for a citizen to see an FOI request through all appeals procedures is outside the general norm. Freedom of information is no longer accessible by all.