Freedom of Information - One Year On
Address by Martin Cullen TD, Minister of State, Department of Finance,
Dublin Castle, 23 April 1999

Birthday greetings with a message

Last week a birthday card was received in my department from officials in the AGs Office in Australia. It was entitled "FOI you're one year old - have a brilliant birthday".

Inside there was lots of words of comfort and reassurance for my officials. These were basically on the lines of that "the first year is the toughest" along with quotes from a recent editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald praising the progressive nature of Ireland's FOI Act.

Reassuring stuff you might think. Not quite!

The rest of the card was given over to press cuttings detailing ongoing FOI stories and headlines from abroad. Even after nearly 18 years FOI still creates a stir there whether its about dragging information out of public bodies, or uncovering interesting issues.

The main point which emerges from all of this is that Freedom of Information operates at a number of levels and is iterative in its challenges to public administration.

What I would like to briefly touch on this morning is the impact of FOI at different levels during the initial period since commencement of the Act.

Levels at which FOI operates

On the basis of our experience I would like to suggest to you that FOI is serving to:

• uphold and strengthen individual citizens rights in their dealings with the State,
• deepen democracy by providing access to information on decision making and administrative processes in public bodies,
• provide a remarkable incentive and support to public service reform in this country.

FOI and Citizens rights

The story, so far, of FOI and citizens' rights is, I believe largely one of success.

What we are witnessing is a level of usage of the Act by ordinary members of the public which compares well, if not significantly better, with comparable jurisdictions abroad.

Usage by the public

Of the 5,000 or so FOI requests received, the vast majority, c65% are from ordinary members of the public seeking information about themselves. The FOI Act has captured the imagination and interest of the public at large. They have responded by using the Act in their thousands.

Response by public bodies

Under the FOI Act all public bodies have been required to publish manuals setting out the rules, procedures, practices and guidelines used for decision making. It has involved massive effort. Take for example Revenue, or Social Community and Family Affairs where decades of precedents, judgements and the like had to be reviewed and integrated as part of preparation of this material.

The publication of these manuals has been a huge step forward for Irish public administration. It benefits citizens and public servants alike. It strengthens citizens' rights by enabling them to know at the outset the groundrules on which their dealings with public bodies are considered. Added to this, the new right to reasons for decisions particularly affecting oneself established by FOI is also a major enhancement of citizens' rights.

A number of public bodies have responded to FOI by developing new practices on administrative access to information. Simply stated these policies enable members of the public to obtain information "over the counter" without the formalities of FOI. Nevertheless, the citizens' statutory FOI rights are preserved should they choose to use them.

Foremost in the development and adoption of new practices on administrative access have been the country's health boards. I wish to acknowledge and commend them for their initiatives in this area.

Secondary legislation

The past twelve months has also seen the passing by the Oireachtas of a wide range of regulations under the FOI Act to enhance citizens' access rights. These have provided for:

• Access by parents and guardians to records of minors and those with severe disability,
• Improved arrangements for dealing with applications for amendment of personal information and for reasons for decisions,
• Access to records of the deceased.

I might conclude on this theme by reflecting that the Information Commissioner and his Office have been particularly vigorous in defending and upholding individuals rights under the Act

All of these initiatives combine to enhance greatly the rights of citizens.

FOI and deepening democracy

At a broader level FOI opens up the public service to scrutiny. It enables those outside the system, including journalists, academics, and community groups to secure information previously unavailable or hidden. It enables such interests to gain better understanding about such bodies work. This in turn strengthens the accountability of public bodies to the society which they serve.

No doubt you will hear accounts later this morning of public bodies dragging their heels on release of information or getting it wrong in their handling of FOI. But this is just part of the story.

Initiatives by departments

The other part of the story is the commencement of significant shifts in practices by public bodies in their handling of information. I might mention just a few:

• In the Department of Finance key policy papers for input to the Budget are prepared by the Tax Strategy Group. This year for the first time the bulk of the Tax Strategy papers have been published,
• In the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the weekly Management Information report to its top management group is routinely publicised, with only key sensitive data protected,
• In the Department of Education access to key examination scripts is provided,
• The Department of Public Enterprise invited all those who responded to their consultation document on the EU electricity directive to view all submissions received.

I mention these initiatives not as ends in themselves, but as evidence of an incremental shift towards openness across different departments. Such shifts are significant in that they provide the public with insight and access on policy and decision making. They are significant too in that they are initiatives of the respective departments, not reactions to Commissioner findings.

FOI requests as an accountability lever

Interest in policy issues is particularly strong here and this is best evidenced by the fact that about 35% of FOI requests are for non-personal information.

Over the past twelve months we have witnessed a number of quite creative uses to secure enhanced accountability. Possibly the most popular among parliamentarians is to ask a Parliamentary Question, then subsequently to submit an FOI request for the background papers and briefing prepared for the Minister on the matter.

FOI itself is of course a direct vehicle of securing information. The minutes of, and reports to top management meetings have also been a frequent source of requests to departments.

In sum, FOI is serving as a catalyst for greater openness as well as a means of securing key information on the business of public bodies.

FOI and Public Service Reform

Many of you here today will be well aware of the extensive programme of change underway across the public service under Delivering Better Government. This reaches into every aspect of public administration ranging from financial management, to personnel practices, to regulatory reform, to performance management, to customer services.

The foundations of far reaching reform of our public service were put in place with the passage of the Public Service Management Act in 1997. Since then, the publication by departments of their strategy statements, the development of business plans, the launch of the quality customer service initiative, the commencement of FOI and the provision of a change management budget all represent milestones on the pathway of reform.

Of the wide range of reforms underway I might briefly mention the Performance Management system. I see this as key to providing exceptional development opportunities for public servants. Work is well advanced on this project and consultation with staff interests are in the final stages. I would be hopeful of seeing these consultations completed quite shortly and the Performance Management System rolled out in all departments later this year.

Clearly, a major programme of training will be required to put in place and support this process. This will bring with it significant benefits for the staff of public bodies in terms of greater job satisfaction and enhanced personal effectiveness. Needless to say there will also be significant gains for the public in terms of improved performance by public bodies and better service.

Wide ranging reforms are also underway in the area of Financial Management. Already improvements have been made through multi annual budgets and enhancements to administrative budgets. Further work is now at an advanced stage on an enhanced financial management system needed to support the reform process. Parallel initiatives are also underway in the areas of Information Technology, Regulatory Reform, and Quality Customer Service. You will hear more of progress across these areas later this year.

It is important therefore to understand FOI as not just as an end in itself, but as part of a wide ranging package of reforms designed to ensure our public service is excellent both as a provider and as an employer.

The impetus provided by FOI

Our experience over the past twelve months is that FOI is proving a powerful catalyst and support for change in the public service. FOI goes to the heart of unduly centralised decision making and insufficiently developed administrative systems. It creates direct and sustained pressure to reform and improve public service practices.

I might mention just a few instances of such reform which has been facilitated by FOI:

• Open access to current personnel records is now the norm,
• Improved recruitment and promotion practices are being adopted,
• Public procurement practices are being further developed so as to provide better quality information to unsuccessful tenders and to the public,
• Financial management practices are being reviewed.

In a nutshell, FOI is much more than just the provision of information by public bodies. It is proving itself as a key support for bringing about profound change and improvement in our public services.

Changing organisations is never easy..

As I have said previously, change takes time.

In particular, organisational change is difficult, time-consuming and requires sustained effort. As a full-time public representative I'm well aware of the tales of woe, of FOI requests going wrong, and of the failings of public bodies.

Organisations are human systems. As such they reflect human failings and weaknesses. Rick Snell, our visiting lecturer from Australia, may tell you of equally if not more colourful failings of public bodies from down under.

Our task is to ensure that such failings by public bodies are not dressed up as virtues. Shortcomings by public bodies should not be shrouded in secrecy, or misrepresented as legitimate and acceptable. Rather they should be openly acknowledged and honestly addressed.

Freedom of Information is creating the climate for such an approach. It also sets a context for unprecedented change and improvement in our public services. Indeed, as I have already mentioned its already yielding significant results.

As Minister of State with particular responsibilities for key elements of the reform programme I greatly welcome these developments.

Conclusion

FOI constitutes profound change. It reaches across political, organisational and interpersonal domains. It assaults well established practices and rejects traditional values of secrecy and anonymity.

Against the huge scale of the changes involved, the benefits already emerging from FOI are considerable. These can be assessed by reference to citizens rights, improved accountability and impetus for reform.

To those of you who will argue that the change is not enough. Let me agree, more needs to be done, more is being done. But tell me first of what comparable changes have been achieved over the past twelve months in the organisation in which you work?

One year on, the Irish public service is living with and learning from FOI.

Our democracy is developing its institutions and practices to compare with the best.

Ends