Information Act will allow citizens access to personal data held on them

The Freedom of Information Act allowing citizens access to personal information held on them at any time by public bodies came…

The Freedom of Information Act allowing citizens access to personal information held on them at any time by public bodies came into effect yesterday.

Official records held by Government Departments or other public bodies can also be seen by the public under the legislation, although this is not retrospective.

Records exempted will include Cabinet meetings, law enforcement and public safety, security, defence, international relations, and commercially sensitive information.

Records relating to Government decisions made after April 21st, 1998, will now be opened up to the public after five years and not after a 30-year period.

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The Ombudsman, Mr Kevin Murphy, has been appointed as the first Information Commissioner, whose role will be to ensure the rights given to citizens under the Act are upheld and that public bodies observe the legislation.

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said the Act would be "a catalyst for profound and lasting change in our public service" and it was the Government's intention to "leave no stone unturned in ensuring that necessary reforms are carried out in all aspects of the public administration".

Mr Ahern said the Act enabled members of the public to inform themselves as to the work of Government bodies, their processes, their priorities and their use of resources. Public bodies would no longer be able to refuse to answer to the public who resource them, he said.

Each public body was also required to publish a manual setting out its functions and the services it provides, how they can be accessed, what types of records it holds, and whom to contact.

"It is small wonder therefore that of the order of 90 per cent of FOI requests abroad are by members of the public. The likelihood is that it will be much the same here and I welcome this," said Mr Ahern.

The Minister of State with responsibility for the freedom of Information Act, Mr Martin Cullen, said the Act would result in improvements in public administration. He stressed that change took time, but gave a personal commitment to ensure that "no effort is spared in maximising the benefit of this Act for the Irish public".

As the Act provided for responses to requests for information within specific time limits, it was vital that decision-makers in public bodies had instant access to records. Departments and offices were now "reviewing, overhauling and modernising their record-keeping systems", said Mr Cullen.

Almost 3,000 civil servants will have received FOI training within the next few weeks since the start of "an unprecedented programme of training" which began last September, he said.

Many more people will be trained within their own departments and offices with additional in-house training being provided by many departments.

Mr Murphy said the Act gave him "very substantial powers, which in many respects are similar to, but go beyond, those of the Ombudsman". These include powers:

to require the provision of information on the basis that it is relevant to a review or investigation.

to require the attendance of witnesses.

to remove records from a public body and retain them for a reasonable period.

to enter any premises occupied by a public body.

Mr Murphy said he intended to operate the legislation in a very sensible and pragmatic way and conduct business with public bodies on the basis of flexibility and informality to the greatest possible extent.

"However, this approach will only work successfully where, in turn, public bodies adopt an open and positive attitude to the provisions of the Act. And even when they do so, there will inevitably be many situations where, as Commissioner, I will have to rely on my formal powers to make a binding decision," he said.