Access to Information Updates
THE cervical cancer review was still having major problems getting access to records even after the health minister described HSE handing over material that could not be searched as “absolutely pathetic”.
Continue reading “HSE provided Scally Report with ‘extremely cumbersome’ scanned copies of records”
Irish Water’s National Draught Plan from 2016 recommended focusing communications on ‘using drought situations’ to promote controversial policies like water metering, while no mention of climate change awareness was made.
Continue reading “2016 Drought plan would have ‘used drought situation’ to promote metering”
The Information Commissioner has uncovered 68 documents the Department of Justice previously claimed did not exist when requested under FOI.
Continue reading “Update: 68 FOI documents uncovered after DOJ claimed they ‘do not exist’”
EVEN the smallest changes in Ireland’s system of direct provision had the potential to “sink the asylum system” in Ireland, a Department of Justice briefing warned.
Continue reading “Post-Brexit Immigration & Childcare Costs could “Sink the Asylum System””
Who they met with, where and when? Ten years of political activities of our senior state representatives…
Continue reading “Ministers’ Diaries: A Special Crowd-funded Project”
Firhouse residents responded with concern after comments by Leo Varadkar in December of last year defending the government’s approach to the ‘Church of Scientology’.
Continue reading “Communities local to new Scientology centres raise concern over Varadkar’s stance”
By Ken Foxe
THE government took a €70 million hit on water charges because they feared legal issues over trying to recoup the water conservation grant.
The €100 grant had been paid to householders on a universal basis and many who claimed it never actually paid any water charges.
A briefing note prepared for the Department of Housing shows how three options were given on how to refund households that had paid their water bills.
The document was only released after nearly year-long battle with the Department during which they repeatedly refused to make it public.
The then minister Simon Coveney was told the cheapest option would be to refund customers while taking account of payment of the €100 conservation grant.
That would have cost €100 million for the refunds and an estimated €9 to €11 million in administrative costs in sifting out who was owed what.
The document was only made public after almost a year of effort to have it released under either FOI or EU regulations covering access to information on the environment.
Its release had been the subject of a review by the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information since last November.
However, the Department decided they would release it without being forced to saying they “no longer [had] any reason to withhold the note”.
Read the document below.
By Ken Foxe
TDs and Senators have run up an overseas travel bill of more than €120,000 during the past seven months.
Politicians jetted off to the four corners of the globe clocking up hundreds of thousands of air miles on trips to Iran, Russia, Canada, the United States, and Mozambique.
One senator Ronan Mullen made three expense claims totalling almost €1,800 on three separate one-night trips to France, according to the records, and despite the fact hotels and flights on the trip were paid directly by the Oireachtas.
Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl was away on separate trips to St Petersburg, Helsinki, and Washington DC. His counterpart in the Seanad, Cathaoirleach Denis O’Donovan, jetted off three times to Iran, Georgia, and the USA.
Just over €9,100 was spent on flights to bring five parliamentarians to Iran for a “bi-lateral” visit last October.
Read the expenses document below.
DUBLIN City Council knew their decision to cancel a Repeal book event would cause a public furore but felt they had no choice but to pull the plug on it.
Records released following an FOI request show how the council believed they would be breaking the law because they were directly funding the event.
Concerns were first raised on April 17 when the council press office suggested “there may be questions” about a publicly funded event having “one side of a referendum argument”.
They said they were would need to check with the office of Chief Executive Owen Keegan on whether they could be associated with it.
An email sent later that evening said: “The inclusion of this event is bound to draw comment given that it is the week of the referendum itself.
“This festival appears from the website to be largely DCC [Dublin City Council] funded. All the funders are public bodies. We are bound to get queries on the appropriateness of the inclusion.”
Read the rest of the documents below.
A FRESH set of guidelines for what broadcasters can and can’t do during a referendum campaign was needed to provide “greater certainty” over what’s allowed in the run-up to the vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment.
Internal records from the Broadcasting Authority said that with four separate votes to come over the next two years, a clearer set of rules was urgently needed with some people up to now having a “weak or incorrect” understanding of what is allowed.
They explain how there was confusion over “artificial balance” governing how much airtime each side should get and how broadcasters could be encouraged to focus on “issues” rather than purely adversarial debates.
The new guidelines also clarified that broadcasters did not need to axe prominent campaign figures if they were appearing in programmes totally unrelated to a referendum.
Late last year, Minister Katherine Zappone was dropped from TV3 cooking show The Restaurant because the station feared complaints if they broadcast the episode in which she featured during a referendum campaign.
