Vol. 497 No. 3
10 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach the number of occasions the interdepartmental committee of officials, chaired by his Department, with the mandate to develop work practices and procedures for the protection of classified information has met. [24519/98]
The interdepartmental committee established to develop detailed work practices and procedures for the protection of classified information met on 22 September 1998.
At that meeting the committee considered the draft of a Department of Finance circular on the classification of material as "top secret". The circular has since issued to all Departments and gives guidance on material which might be classified "top secret" and on procedures to be applied to such material. The interdepartmental committee also decided to compile an inventory of current practices in Government Departments/ offices for the handling, circulation and storage of sensitive official information with a view to preparing a preliminary draft report. The compilation is in hands and the committee will meet again in due course to consider the preliminary draft report when it is available.
