Journalists, lawyers and media lecturers get together to publish guide to use of new Act

A number of journalists, lawyers and journalism lecturers are planning to produce a handbook on the recently implemented Freedom of Information Act, which will demonstrate how the Act can be used.

The contents will form the basis of the final discussion at a two-day conference organised by the anti-censorship group, Let In The Light, the School of Communications at Dublin City University and the International Centre for Journalists, Washington.

The conference, at DCU on June 12th and 13th, will look at the legislation itself as well as offer workshops for journalists, community groups and others on how to use the Act, which came into effect two months ago.

It will be addressed by the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Martin Cullen, who is responsible for the implementation of the Act. Also speaking with be Senator Brendan Ryan, the author of an earlier attempt to get a Freedom of Information law on to the statute books, and Ms Eithne Fitzgerald, who steered the legislation through the Dail during the last government.

The conference will also hear from the Information Commissioner, Mr Kevin Murphy, and from Mr Gerry Kearney of the Department of Finance on how civil servants are preparing for the Act.

Although the Irish legislation is based on that in place in New Zealand, Australia and Canada, the overseas experts involved in the conference are all from the US. Ms Fitzgerald has said that US experience in this area does not suit the Irish environment.

The organisers of the conference say that after 30 years in place US legislation has become more "user-friendly". One of the aims of the conference is to show how the Irish legislation can be fashioned by users into an effective tool.

The US experts include Mr Charles Lewis, from the Centre for Public Integrity, Washington, Mr Mike Donoghue, a newspaper editor, and Ms GayLa Sessoms, a freedom of information officer with the Department of Justice.

Other speakers include Ms Marie McGonagle of NUI Galway and Mr Gerry Fitzgerald of the International Centre for Journalists in the US.

Following what the organisers are billing as the "national conference and training workshop" a series of regional workshops are being held. The handbook, a citizen's guide to freedom of information, is to be published in October.