Or at least, I want information to be freed. And thanks to the new Freedom of Information Act 2014, signed into law today, it just got a little more free in Ireland. Now there are a lot of caveats. Not all officialdom falls under its terms, there are exceptions for things like commercial sensitivity (which… Continue reading Information wants to be free
Tag: open government
Who’s in Charge: FOI and the civil service
Today I wrote to the three TDs in my constituency to to express my concern at last minute changes to the Freedom of Information Act announced by Brendan Howlin on Friday. These changes, if put into law, will mean Ireland has one of the most restrictive FOI regimes in the world. Most worryingly, although only… Continue reading Who’s in Charge: FOI and the civil service
Kildare Street: Questions for the Oireachtas
On Tuesday, the Oireachtas website changed how it operates, effectively shutting down KildareStreet.com. Simon McGarr outlines the issues here. I send an email to the Oireachtas yesterday, containing several questions as follows: Can you supply me with a statement re operation of Oireachtas debates website, and recent changes to the site which have apparently rendered… Continue reading Kildare Street: Questions for the Oireachtas
JobBridge: The Story So Far
Back in March 2012, I sent a Freedom of Information request to FÁS and the Department of Social Protection (DSP) seeking two items: (1) Records maintained by FÁS relating to the number of jobbridge positions accepted by participants, how many jobbridge programmes have been completed, and relating to what happened afterwards to participants. (2) Records… Continue reading JobBridge: The Story So Far
Jobbridgers used to clear citizenship backlog
Yesterday, I received a Freedom of Information file containing (part of) the Jobbridge database. Showing it to a friend, I ran a trivial search: Who sought the greatest number of jobbridgers? Three organisations requested 30 “interns”. For now, I can only tell you one of them. Step forward, Citizenship Division, Department of Justice and Equality.… Continue reading Jobbridgers used to clear citizenship backlog
Justice…shall be administered in public
Overnight transcripts from the Smithwick tribunal may not be made available to the public or to the various legal teams granted representation at the inquiry into alleged Garda collusion with the Provisional IRA. “The transcripts will not be put on the internet,” counsel for the tribunal said at today’s brief public hearing. They would also… Continue reading Justice…shall be administered in public
Are speed camera zones about safety or revenue?
I spent Tuesday at Hacks & Hackers Hack. Organised by Scraperwiki, and sponsored by the Guardian Open Platform, NUJ Dublin Freelance Branch and Innovation Dublin, HH&H was a one day exercise uniting Hacks (journalists) and Hackers (computer coders) to extract data from public databases. Since the introduction of safety camera zones has been in the… Continue reading Are speed camera zones about safety or revenue?