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Government acknowledges section of new FOI bill 'may cause difficulties'

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will consider if section 17 of the new FOI bill needs to be altered in the wake of correspondence from the Information Commissioner.

THE GOVERNMENT IS to consider possible changes to a section of the new Freedom of Information Bill which has caused concern amongst transparency activists who fear it could limit the release of large amounts of data.

Following correspondence from the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) has acknowledged that section 17 of the bill “as currently drafted may potentially cause difficulties in terms of interpretation and application in the future”.

This follows concerns raised by the solicitor Simon McGarr who accused the government of trying to “uninvent computers”  in the drafting of section 17 (4) (b) saying it would require officials in public bodies who are handling FOI requests to deal with database queries in the same way in which they would deal with queries related to printed files.

This would potentially limit the amount of time and effort these officials could devote to extracting information, McGarr said.

But the DPER robustly defended the legislation in a statement yesterday insisting the bill’s intention was to allow for more large data queries to be dealt with and not refused.

However, Stephen Rafferty, a senior investigator at the OIC, said that while he is satisfied with the clear intent of the Minister it appears that the provision has been drafted in a way that could cause difficulties when it comes to interpretation.

“The Department accepted that there is certainly scope for interpretative difficulties. They will look at it again and take whatever action they deem necessary,” Rafferty told TheJournal.ie this evening.

But he added that one of McGarr’s blogs criticising the bill “misrepresented the Minister’s intent” adding: “The intention of the new provision is to improve access rights, if it didn’t do what it intended to do that’s down to the drafting.”

McGarr has said that the section needs to be significantly amended or deleted from the proposed legislation which the government hopes to enact by the end of the year.  He said on Twitter today that the OIC had told him they would suggest amending the wording of the provision.

Journalist and transparency advocate Gavin Sheridan has said that the section needs to be deleted.

In a statement to this website this evening, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said: “The Office of the Information Commissioner has been consulted throughout the drafting of the Bill and hadn’t raised any concerns in relation to the drafting of section 17 .

“However a representative of that Office contacted the Department this afternoon when it had been made aware of the recent concerns expressed about section 17 as currently worded in the Draft FOI Bill.

“The Office of the Information Commissioner advised that it is satisfied that the clear intent of the Minister was to improve access rights, but it acknowledges that the provision as currently drafted may potentially cause difficulties in terms of interpretation and application in the future.

“When the Office contacted the Department about the matter, the Department stated that it was aware of the concerns and is considering what further action, if any, might be required to address them.

Read more: Government insists new FOI bill does not intend to ‘uninvent computers’

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9 Comments
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    Mute Lance Taylor
    Favourite Lance Taylor
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    Apr 8th 2025, 7:45 PM

    Hot school dinners for every child’s belly should be mandatory in Ireland. Some of these kids aren’t fed at home.

    101
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    Mute Meh Meh
    Favourite Meh Meh
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    Apr 8th 2025, 8:02 PM

    @Lance Taylor: I’d be more in favour of this, never having it myself. Yet as a full time worker, and payer of taxes since I left school, our money goes into business suit pockets, not scruffy jeans.

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    Mute Bri Lye
    Favourite Bri Lye
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    Apr 8th 2025, 8:16 PM

    @Lance Taylor: if parents aren’t using benefit money to feed kids then their payments need reducing.

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    Mute Brian Molloy
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    Apr 8th 2025, 8:45 PM

    @Lance Taylor: it’s the age old adage,if you can’t feed them don’t breed them

    36
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    Mute Karen Marten
    Favourite Karen Marten
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    Apr 9th 2025, 10:10 AM

    @Lance Taylor: yes but made on site not pre made and reheated give them freshly made food nothing processed . Some of the gunk served in my dd school looks revolting. She will try lots of foods last week her lunch she said tasted like medicine. They just need to come up with proper food ideas and come up with ideas of choice s and that s it don’t like send in lunch of own

    4
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    Mute RP McGuinness
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    Apr 8th 2025, 8:02 PM

    That her feeling was – “absolute relief” – says it all really.

    Parents these days want everyone else to do their job for them.

    They should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

    88
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    Mute Clare Power
    Favourite Clare Power
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    Apr 8th 2025, 9:22 PM

    @RP McGuinness: I’m going guess you have never pulled your hair out of an evening trying to serve up a dinner, supervise homework and organise everything for the next day for a group of kids…you obviously let someone else do it whilst judging others..

    64
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    Mute Daniel Wilson
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    Apr 8th 2025, 10:57 PM

    @RP McGuinness: alright granddad back to your porridge

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    Mute RP McGuinness
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    Apr 9th 2025, 9:06 AM

    @Clare Power: It’s called parenting. It’s not the job of the State to rear your sprogs.

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    Mute Cian Halley
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    Apr 8th 2025, 7:48 PM

    Does this girl ever stop whinging about everything

    75
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    Mute Mary Linton
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    Apr 8th 2025, 7:50 PM

    @Cian Halley: whilst normally it’s just AI generated bitching…… this article does have a ring of truth & sense about it

    39
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    Mute Charles Okumbu
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    Apr 8th 2025, 8:00 PM

    @Mary Linton: hullo mary

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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 8th 2025, 9:01 PM

    @Charles Okumbu:
    Who the fcuk thumbs up hullo Mary.

    24
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    Mute Charles Okumbu
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    Apr 8th 2025, 11:42 PM

    @Thomas O’Brien: lol

    2
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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 9th 2025, 12:00 AM

    @Charles Okumbu:
    You won’t be laughing out loud if Mary accuses you of stalking her.

    5
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    Mute Mary L
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    Apr 8th 2025, 10:51 PM

    We have a golden opportunity to provide children with a wholesome, nutritional meal. We should be fighting for it and not thinking that any old slop is good enough. Other European countries can deliver high quality hot meals to their children and we should demand no less.
    It’s certainly not a question of being precious, it’s a question of demanding the best for our kids.

    34
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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    Apr 9th 2025, 12:29 AM

    @Mary L: Hear hear.

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    Mute sean weir
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    Apr 9th 2025, 5:59 AM

    @Mary L: always had a hot lunch when I was at school,chips were a treat, decent 2 course mean was provided in both primary and secondary, pupils bought a meal ticket for the day that they wanted a hot meal,and the kids who couldn’t afford it had free school meals .
    Mind you I grew up in the north so…….

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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 9th 2025, 7:14 AM

    @Mike Doe:
    Are you related to John Doe.

    1
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    Mute Liam Boyle
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    Apr 8th 2025, 10:14 PM

    Insufferable nonsense is all this one writes

    34
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    Mute Deborah Mullan
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    Apr 9th 2025, 9:22 AM

    @Liam Boyle: pointless article

    2
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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
    Favourite Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 8th 2025, 8:33 PM

    Jesus wept, what next.

    18
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    Mute Meh Meh
    Favourite Meh Meh
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    Apr 8th 2025, 7:59 PM

    Try bringing up seven kids, with three separate fathers (two in prison), in a rented council flat in West Dublin, and you’re being ‘no-fault’ evicted in six months, because the Landpersons ‘Sister is coming back from America and needs somewhere to crash’.
    Meanwhile all the kids are trying to get to grips with cardboard origami lessons on YouTube, for when you all have to live on the streets, no money, no address for bills, or supplimental support structures, eating from Saint Vincent de Paul, or bins.

    Then come back to me, with a real sob story.

    14
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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 8th 2025, 8:16 PM

    @Meh Meh:
    Have you heard of contraception.

    76
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    Mute Bri Lye
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    Apr 8th 2025, 8:18 PM

    @Meh Meh: why you having 7 kids without a house … others are not here to pay tax to support your expanding family.

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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 8th 2025, 8:54 PM

    @Bri Lye:
    Apparently she is working full time and paying taxes.

    3
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    Mute Donna Fallon
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    Apr 8th 2025, 8:59 PM

    @Meh Meh: You’re not for real are you??

    24
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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 8th 2025, 9:28 PM

    @Philip Kennedy:
    That’s a bit rude.

    12
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    Mute Deano74
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    Apr 8th 2025, 9:58 PM

    @Meh Meh: Try bringing up seven kids,try sleeping in the spare room.

    12
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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
    Favourite Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 8th 2025, 10:15 PM

    @Deano74:
    With seven kids, there is no spare room.

    3
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    Mute Deano74
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    Apr 8th 2025, 10:25 PM

    @Thomas O’Brien: I was waiting on that one.There would off been if she taught of it sooner.

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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 8th 2025, 10:48 PM

    @Deano74:
    I still say contraception is the one.

    10
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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 8th 2025, 10:50 PM

    @H Woo:
    I don’t wear jockeys, I wear briefs.

    1
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    Mute Deano74
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    Apr 8th 2025, 10:52 PM

    @Thomas O’Brien: The spare room is cheaper.

    1
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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Apr 8th 2025, 10:58 PM

    @Deano74:
    Contraception is free for women, but you need a room to get it on.

    3
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    Mute Donna Fallon
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    Apr 9th 2025, 2:10 PM

    @Philip Kennedy: I don’t look for pity Man. Quite the opposite.

    1
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    Mute Altoir
    Favourite Altoir
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    Apr 8th 2025, 11:57 PM

    Spaghetti bolo,sausages and mash! that’s a luxury, try bringing your child up eating halal.

    7
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    Mute Ed Brennan
    Favourite Ed Brennan
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    Apr 9th 2025, 7:56 AM

    There is nothing wrong with this food, other than it is halal, blessed by an imam, offered to allah, and served to Christian children, in Christian schools, in a Christian country.,, there be forcing them to break the 1st Commandment.

    5
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    Mute Ali 123
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    Apr 9th 2025, 9:03 AM

    C’mon Margaret – you’ve 2 lovely kids stop whining about parenting them. Try and relax and enjoy them growing up.

    5
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    Mute William Maloney
    Favourite William Maloney
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    Apr 9th 2025, 12:47 PM

    Hot lunches for children are a good idea. Let stop worrying about what they are eating so long as they are being fed!!

    2
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    Mute Pat Redmond
    Favourite Pat Redmond
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    Apr 9th 2025, 11:32 PM

    @William Maloney: yeah, stuff the innocent kids with cheap ultra processed food and pay for the obesity crisis down the line

    1
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