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Graham Hughes/Photocall Ireland
MEP Phil Prendergast (file photo)
# Freedom of Information
Labour MEPs call on government to release information about IBRC liquidation
MEP Phil Prendergast said that “a blanket refusal policy would serve only to heighten distrust in government and in the ECB.”
Updated 17:23
LABOUR MEPs PHIL PRENDERGAST and Nessa Childers have called on an extension of the Freedom of Information (FOI) process to give insight into the State’s liquidation of IBRC.
The MEPs made the call following reports in the Irish Examiner that government were under instruction from the European Central Bank not to release details of the ongoing liquidation to the public.
The news comes just days after TheJournal.ie revealed that the Irish Bank Officials Association had told workers at the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation to cooperate with NAMA regarding the transfers of assets out of the liquidated bank.
‘A step too far’
“The outright rejection of Freedom of Information requests is a step too far,” Prendergast said, with the Labour Party member adding that she firmly believed that “access to information is a key part of democracy in action.”
There is no excuse for a gag order like this. A blanket refusal policy would serve only to heighten distrust in government and in the ECB.
Childers said that the decision to liquidate IBRC had been one the “biggest ever decisions made by the Irish State” and said that she had submitted an official parliamentary question to the ECB to determine their position on the issue.
Read: Union now tells IBRC staff to cooperate with NAMA over new roles >
