Annual Report 2008 - Text

FOI 10th Anniversary Conference (15th May 2008)

On 15th May 2008, I hosted a one-day conference to mark the first decade of FOI in Ireland. The theme of the conference was a retrospective look at what had been achieved to date and a prospective look at the challenge ahead as FOI heads into its second decade.

The conference theme was encapsulated in my Office's publication entitled: 'Freedom of Information - The First Decade'. That publication traced the impact of the first decade of FOI, including the impact of cases decided by my Office on standards of public administration in Ireland. It recognised that a consensus does not exist and that attitudes to the usefulness and desirability of FOI differ; FOI is undeniably political in its impact. On the development of FOI as it moves into its second decade, the publication warned against complacency regarding the value of FOI in preserving an open, liberal and democratic society. In examining what lies ahead for FOI, the question was posed as to whether Ireland is as open a society as other countries with which we have close relationships. A comparison of the treatment of security, defence and international relations records under the FOI regimes of the United Kingdom and of the United States with our own statutory position in those areas showed that important information was released by those countries whereas the same requests would attract a mandatory refusal here. Similarly, as I have pointed out often, Ireland is virtually unique in Europe in excluding its police force from FOI law.

The commentary contained a strong recommendation that a thorough review of our FOI legislation should be carried out by a small group under an independent Chairman. It also called for a reduction in the application fees for internal reviews and reviews by my Office and, in line with the recommendation in the recent OECD Report 'Ireland: Towards an Integrated Public Service', called for the dropping of 'up-front' fees for requests.

I was happy to welcome the Minister for Finance, Mr. Brian Lenihan, T.D., to open the conference in what was his first week in office. We were privileged to have the following speakers who shared their experiences of FOI with us:

  • Ciarán Connolly, Secretary General for Public Service Management and Development with the Department of Finance
  • Kevin Dunion, the Scottish Information Commissioner
  • Graham Smith, the UK Deputy Information Commissioner
  • Maurice Frankel, Director of the UK Campaign for Freedom of Information
  • Howard Back, retired Chief Inspector of the London Metropolitan Police Service
  • Eamon Gilmore, T.D., Labour Party Leader
  • Donncha O'Connell, Dean of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

In addition, two lively panel discussions were co-presented by a number of prominent journalists and academics in the field of FOI.

Fuller details of the conference are available on my Office website - www.oic.ie and a selection of images from the day are reproduced later in this report.

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