The Government is considering extending the Freedom of Information Act to the Garda Síochána, the Medical Council, and Vocational Education Committees (VECs).
The Act is to be extended to all "appropriate" public bodies by the end of 2005, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Mr Parlon, told an Oireachtas committee yesterday.
As part of this process, the inclusion of the Garda and the Medical Council was being considered "as a priority", he told the committee on finance and the public service. There was also "a case" for including the VECs under the Act.
Mr Parlon also announced that the Act is to be extended to include the bodies that are charged with ensuring the public gets good value for money from benchmarking in the public service, which is expected to cost over €1 billion.
The five "performance verification groups" set up earlier this year - to decide whether public servants are providing a better service before benchmarking payments can be made to them next year - are to be included under the Act shortly.
However, opposition TDs vigorously attacked the move as a public relations stunt. Labour's Ms Joan Burton accused the Government of "filleting" the FoI Act by introducing fees and weakening its provisions earlier this year.
The Government had drawn down "a veil of secrecy" over its operations, and the PDs had acquiesced in this, she claimed. The announcement was just a "fig leaf" to hide a lack of transparency. Its performance on freedom of information was "pathetic".
Mr Richard Bruton said the Minister's announcement on benchmarking bodies was "too little, too late". Benchmarking should have been based on "hard evidence" of additional work by public servants, but this evidence had never been released.
Yet the benchmarking process was costing each taxpayer over €1,000. The Government had reneged on its commitments and missed a huge opportunity by failing to bring about serious reform in the public sector.
Meanwhile, hospitals were being closed, home-help services lost and respite care withdrawn.
Fianna Fáil's Senator Martin Mansergh said it was "rubbish" to suggest the Act was being filleted; rather, it was being extended. The "proof of the pudding" on benchmarking was "in the eating.
"Last year was the best year for industrial relations since 1970. The benchmarking awards were a good deal that had been accepted across the board.
"The Opposition only wanted the background details so they could "unpick" this achievement."
Independent Senator Joe O'Toole said benchmarking had delivered "the most modern, effective and productive public service in all of Europe". In contrast with many Continental European countries, which have been hit by public service strikes, the deal here had produced industrial peace.
