It hardly needed the Ombudsman to remind everyone, for the second year in succession, that much work remains to be done to create a culture within the public service and the Government which is disposed to releasing information rather than withholding it. Countless citizens in search of simple information which would enable them to exercise their rights and claim their entitlements can confirm the difficulties in extracting the information required. Many journalists can attest to the problem of finding out from government departments or local authorities quite ill of legitimate public concern. Indeed, one newspaper editor was a complainant to the Ombudsman last year because his reporters could not get from a county council any information on effluent discharges which should have been statutorily available to the public.
It is no harm that the Ombudsman, Mr Kevin Murphy, in his second report to the Oireachtas, should send out such reminders. It is as a result of the work done by his office in his own and his predecessor's time, that there has been such improvements as have been seen in the provision of information to the public relevant to their lives and circumstances. As he points out in this year's report, many of the complaints dealt with by his office might well not have arisen if adequate and appropriate information had been provided when needed. And as both society and the public service become more complex, the need for information becomes greater. In many instances, the public may not even know what information to look for.
"Information is at the centre of the citizen's dealings with public bodies" writes Mr Murphy, "and, in its absence, he or she cannot even begin to ask how and why decisions were made". He goes on. "There is no doubt that information is fundamental to transparency and accountability in the way Government and public bodies operate. Increasing the availability of official information enables the public to become more involved in the making and administration of laws and policies of central government and in the actions and decisions of local government and other state bodies".
This might seem obvious enough, but it is useful to have it spelled out with all the authority of the Ombudsman's office. And it is dearly to be hoped that the members of the Oireachtas to whom the Ombudsman is required to address his remarks will note what he says. Accountability and transparency are words that have been bandied about a great deal, especially by the Government. It is not at all obvious that much has been done by the Government to dispel the culture of secrecy in public affairs in either central or local government.
Small wonder, then, that the Ombudsman appears to look forward with some enthusiasm to the long promised Freedom of Information Act which may effect some change in the way that public servants approach their work and in the degree of public access to official documents. He points out that access to files and documents is one of the most significant powers available to his office it is past time that some more of that power was passed on directly to the public, the people in whose interest the Ombudsman works.