Ruairí Quinn
Question:83 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Finance the reason for the introduction of Civil Service Circular 7/98; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13401/98]
Written Answers. - Freedom of Information Act.
As I indicated in the course of my replies to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 65 and 79 of 3 March and No. 55 of 28 April 1998, it was necessary, in light of the commencement of the Freedom of Information Act, to rescind those elements of circular 15/79 — Official Secrecy and Integrity — relating to the disclosure of official information. The new circular, 7/98, rescinds the relevant provisions in 15/79 and is designed to set out the principal precepts which now govern the proper disclosure of information e.g., by emphasising the public's right of access to official information and the importance of safeguarding the confidentiality of information of a private or commercial nature. It has, of course, been long standing practice by public bodies to regularly release routine, non-contentious information to the public. I am eager that this practice should continue in tandem with FOI. For this reason, my department requested public bodies to put better arrangements in place for access by the public to such information outside of FOI. More recently, I have asked the FOI interdepartmental working group to consider how well such arrangements are working in practice. This matter will be addressed at the group's next meeting later this month. If there are any difficulties arising I will be very happy to take action to ensure that these are addressed.
It had been hoped to replace 15/79 with appropriate provisions in a new Civil Service code — currently under preparation, which would set out the principles and standards governing the work of civil servants. However, it did not prove possible to have the code ready before the commencement of the Freedom of Information Act on 21 April 1998. I propose to replace 7/98 when the code is promulgated.