Documents released to the Fine Gael leader today show the Government did not consult the Information Commissioner on the proposed changes to the Freedom of Information Act (FoI).
In documents, released under the Act itself, Mr Enda Kenny said, it emerged that that the Office of the Information Commissioner wrote to the Department of Finance on February 3rd seeking consultation on the amendment to Act.
The Government Bill changing the Act, which is now going through the Oireachtas, was based on a report by five high-ranking civil servants, who did not consult the Information Commissioner, nor any other interested party outside government.
"Not only did the High Level Group decline to consult with the Information Commissioner, but two months after its report had been completed [in December 2002], the Department of Finance still had not sought the views of the Information Commissioner on legislation which they were drafting," Mr Kenny said.
"It would seem from the letter that the first that the Office of the Information Commissioner knew about the proposed amendment, was when they read it in the Government's legislative programme published in late January.
"The release of these papers under the Freedom of Information Act highlights the benefits of the Act in helping us know how Government works and, once again, highlights the secretive way in which this legislation has been prepared," he added.
Neither of the Government Ministers responsible for the proposed Amendment will attend the Oireachtas debates on FoI this week as both are at the race meeting in Cheltenham.
The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said the absence of Mr McCreevy and Mr Parlon from the Dáil "illustrates the contempt of Fianna Fáil and the PDs for the Oireachtas".
The Act, he said, was originally introduced by the Rainbow Government specifically to reassure the public that the sort of secrecy, unaccountability and low standards that were the hallmark of the Haughey era would never again occur.
"The plans to amend the Freedom of Information Act represent a major reversal of public policy and as such deserve the widest possible consultation and closest possible examination by the Oireachtas," Mr Rabbitte said.
"Instead the government chose to consult nobody, other than a small group of senior civil servants. The Oireachtas was ignored; the Information Commissioner was ignored; user groups were ignored".