Monday 12 November 2012

FOI-ing FOI

Over at The Story, as part of an ongoing process, they have published the Irish Government's briefing papers for cabinet meetings ten years ago:

Bertie Ahern’s Cabinet briefing papers June/July 2002

One interesting point is a discussion of changes to the Freedom of Information Act, which had been passed five years earlier. The Fianna Fáil government had just been re-elected and decided to consider the Act "with regard to its impact on the efficiency on [sic] decision-making". The result would be an emasculation of the Act with a reform in 2003 that would introduce charges and produce a dramatic reduction in the number of enquiries (other than personal information ones, which would remain free).

The Story includes a fascinating series of FOI disclosures - it's an excellent resource: just do a search through the tags for 'FOI'. 

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