Vol. 539 No. 2
157 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the bodies under his area of responsibility which have been recommended to come under the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19141/01]
As the Deputy is aware it has been Government policy to extend the Freedom Of Information, FOI, Act on an incremental basis. In the context of this ongoing programme, all Departments were asked by the Department of Finance to identify additional bodies to be brought within the scope of the FOI having regard to the criteria contained in paragraph 1(5) of the First Schedule to the FOI Act. To assist Departments in identifying their priorities in this regard, the Department of Finance asked them to consider in particular bodies in receipt of or administering significant public funds, bodies exercising important statutory functions, bodies in a category or sector where FOI already applies and bodies where previous undertakings in relation to their inclusion under FOI had already been given.
In response to that request, my Department has recommended that Bord Fáilte, CERT and Area Development Management Limited should be brought within the scope of FOI. The Irish Sports Council is already covered and I understand that the Department of the Taoiseach had already recommended that Campus and Stadium Ireland Development be included prior to responsibility for the company transferring to my Department.
As part of the ongoing roll-out of FOI, my Department will be examining the possibility of extending FOI to other bodies. That examination will take account of the criteria laid down in the Act for inclusion of public bodies under FOI, as well as the administrative implications for those bodies, of implementing FOI.
