As no judges were available on May 17 or 18 last, the case of NAMA vs The Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information was put back to July 24 (tomorrow). Hopefully it will finally be heard. It’s only 2 years and five months since I put in my requests for information. The Commissioner found in my favour in September 2011, and NAMA appealed her decision to the High Court.
The case to some degree hinges on what “and includes” means in Irish law, and a judgment in favour of the Commissioner would have a pretty large affect on the access to information regime in Ireland.
Such a decision would provide legal clarity for all requesters of environmental information, decisively bringing all State-owned companies (including all port companies and Anglo Irish Bank), all bodies where boards are appointed by Ministers, all companies where board members are appointed by a Minister and all Ministers themselves under the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) regime.
I will tweet any updates on my Twitter account @gavinsblog.
‘And includes’ in this instance means to allow use of additional comments or words to be contained as part or whole of what it attaches to.
It’s not rocket science.
Thanks for taking the case.