McCreevy defends Freedom Act changes
The Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy has told the Seanad that the proposed changes to the Freedom of Information Act will still leave Ireland with one of the most liberal regimes in the world.
He was speaking during the second stage debate on the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill in the Seanad.
Mr McCreevy claimed that five years for the retention of Government information is clearly not enough, but he added that a ten year limit still leaves Ireland with a liberal regime.
McCreevy went on to say that the time-frame for release of Government information in other jurisdictions can be anywhere between 10 and 30 years.
The Minister cited Canada as an example, where he said, the Government operates a blanket restriction on Government records for twenty years.
He added that a fee was being imposed on FOI queries because some requests were extremely time-consuming.
