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About LinkBacksNo, Micheál Martin isOriginally Posted by LDF
No, Micheál Martin is
A disgraceful comment. The FOI has been emasculated by FF and the PDs ably abetted by the Greens. A comprehensive FOI whereby only the most sensitive topics like Justice and Defence are outside the ambit is a must. FF use secrecy as way of covering their dirty tracks. Biffo has been...shall we say....sailing close to the wind in the past according to one civil servant who can't report facts as he'd lose his job.
"The Egyptians could run to Egypt, the Syrians into Syria. The only place we could run was into the sea, and before we did that we might as well fight.” -Golda Meir
..and where is the long promised whistle-blower legislation? Mary Harney proposed it some years ago but it has never materialised. The Greens also seem more interested in grabbing a couple of Seanad seats for their insiders and changing lightbulbs then doing something that would actually make a difference.
I suppose the Greens will be wholeheartedly supporting this stance?
Sure who needs transparency when you've got an eco merc!
If the public servants were not seeing to these requests and generating income for the exchequer they would be drinking coffee & finishing books of sidoko puzzles.
Probably several requests.
CIE are exempt and do not like Shane Ross sniffing around who had success with Fas but this is now ongoing and may yet be swept under the carpet.
They charge per hour for FOI requests and make a profit on it. Almost all the information is stored on computer systems, so the reality is that it only takes a few seconds to get the information.
FF make it very difficult to get certain information.
Read this, will show you exactly whats going on.
Oireachtas expenses 2002, 2001 – The Story
Freedom of Information is a fundamental cornerstone of any modern, transparent democracy. Any individual who may be affected negatively by the full and frank application of this process is at best worrysome and at worse, an active enemy of the electorate to whom they should be accountable.
For a Prime Minister of a supposed modern, free and fair democracy to come out with these utterances is a very telling indictment of that state and the attitude of the political classes toward the electorate. Not that we were not already cogniscent of this.
There will be instances when the ongoing national security can and should override this, but this should also be in the short term or at the very least, until the danger to national security is passed and/or overcome.
Looks like FAS dont like FOI's.
My ears are burning… – The Story
Personally, I think that requests for readily identifiable documents in electronic form should be free of charge. Even in the case of reasonable sized paper copies, there shouldn't be a charge.
I can understand Cowen's frustration about the cost of dealing with the major "fishing trips" that journalists (and others) put in, but, the fact is they tried their best to discourage the ordinary citizen from looking for something specific, when they brought in the €15 charge.
The same point applies (even more so) to the fee for planning observations. That was brought in for no other reason than to discourage people from making observations.
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