Business world taps into freedom of information

The corporate world in the United States is that country's greatest user of its freedom of information legislation. Here the law, which came into effect in April of last year, has also been heavily used by business.

Figures for the period April 21st 1998 to December 31st 1998 compiled by the Department of Finance, show that 377 of the 2,750 requests received were from business. That is about 14 per cent of the total. The largest user group was the general public, which made more than 1,100 requests during the period, or in excess of 41 per cent. Next came staff of the organisations to which the Act applies (21 per cent) and the media (17 per cent). The other user group is members of the Oireachtas.

Ms Eithne Fitzgerald, the former Labour Party minister who oversaw the introduction of the Act and has probably made more use of it than anyone else, says it was drafted so as to protect commercial information and prevent the sort of "corporate espionage" allowed in the US. In the US companies "use it to get information on what other companies are up to".

The law is a powerful tool for business, she says. It can be used by companies and business organisations to get information about themselves held by government departments and agencies. It can also be used to get government policy papers and analysis of their sectors. Almost all consultancy reports ordered by government departments are covered by the Act and must be released to persons or companies which seek them. Also, commercial information concerning competitors which is no longer sensitive must be released.

"All that stuff there would be of enormous interest to groups such as IBEC," Ms Fitzgerald says, pointing towards two fat folders containing documents she received from the Department of Finance following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Inside are most of the papers considered by the Taxation Strategy Group in the run-up to the last budget. Government policy and the pros and cons of various measures considered in relation to the various categories of taxes, and a number of business sectors, are included.

Even the fact that some papers were disallowed under the Act is of interest. One paper refused was on Corporation Tax - Financial Sector Clawbacks, while another was a paper on Irish Registered Non-Resident companies. The fact that they were refused indicates they are still "live" issues.

"It is interesting for groups involved in the process of lobbying for change to see what is on the table," she says. The arguments made by various groups, and the Taxation Strategy Group's reaction to those arguments, is outlined in the papers.

For example, the paper on housing prices mentions a call from the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute, for the restriction on the deductibility of interest, to be removed for multiple rental units. This was rejected, partly because the "regentrification" of areas such as Rathmines and Drumcondra, which used to have a large number of such multiple rental units, was an ongoing and desirable feature.

"Furthermore, it has also been stated that the standards in such multi-units are often poor and that the investment required to bring such units up to the required standard could only be sustained by significant rent increases."

One of the papers in the folders is on FOI and a recommendation that, in the future, the tax strategy group's papers should be published as a matter of course once the budget has been published, or subsequent to the Finance Bill. Such a development would save the department from the bother and cost of having to process numerous FOI requests.

There has been some discussion as to whether the FOI Act applied to corporate bodies or was restricted to individuals. However, a recent decision by the appeals commissioner came down in favour of corporate bodies having the right to make requests, Ms Fitzgerald says.

Corporate bodies can look for information about themselves but unlike individuals, for whom there is no time limit, can only gain access to documents created since April 21st last (unless, that is, an earlier document is needed to allow the body to understand a document to which it is entitled). For other parties making non-personal requests, such as journalists and politicians, the April 21st deadline also applies.

Ms Fitzgerald, who is spokeswoman on Dublin for the Labour Party and works in the Department of Sociology in University College, Dublin, uses FOI for constituency reasons, monitoring Government in a number of areas she is particularly interested in, and for her academic work.

She has made requests for information on an extension to a school in her constituency; the LUAS; and such matters as the follow-up on the Bacon report on housing, and the task force on violence against women.

"An interesting finding was the limited amount of information the Department of the Environment had on the private rented sector. They had very little stuff on the Bacon issue." Her "juiciest find", she says, was the deliberations on the LUAS and what she claims was a decision to bypass a £40,000 consultants' report in favour of the views of a lobbyist linked to the PDs.

She has found that, as was envisaged under the Act, she is being given a increasing amount of material outside the use of the FOI law. "I ring people and ask them will they send me something or should I put through a Freedom of Information request. I'm getting a fair amount of stuff in that way."

She has made one appeal against a refusal to grant her a document, and was successful. The Department of the Taoiseach had refused to give her a FAS report on vacancies in certain business sectors. "There is a lot of grey literature out there," she says, meaning material such as reports commissioned by Government departments. These reports have to be made available under FOI, unless they are covered by one of the stated exceptions in the Act, such as commercial sensitivity, or the fact that they are part of the Government deliberative process.

The law was passed in 1997 in the final weeks of the Rainbow Coalition. It was an initiative which came from the political sphere rather than from the civil service, she says. "Certain areas of the civil service were very positive and there were others that were less positive and one that was downright reluctant - Justice."

Over time she would like to see the April 21st 1998 cut-off point rolled back. "I'd like Freedom of Information to reach the Archives Act before that happens automatically in 30 years' time."

All Government departments and a number of public bodies were covered by the Act from its introduction. Since October 1998 health boards and local authorities have been covered by it. In the coming months she would like to see the law being extended to other "subsidiary agencies" such as the Health and Safety Authority, REHAB, the National Roads Authority, and the county enterprise boards.

Over the years she expects the effect of the Act to deepen and to see increased use of it by business, the media and the general public. "I think its potential has only begun to be tapped. I also think it facilitates openness in decision making and, better decision making in the end."