The Information Commissioner Peter Tyndall has said his office is involved in a stand-off with the Central Bank over its obligations under freedom of information legislation (FoI).
He strongly criticised the bank for claiming its commitment to “openness and transparency” while at the same time refusing to accept a legal interpretation of how FoI legislation applies to it.
The bank is one of a number of bodies brought, or partially brought, under the legislation for the first time under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.
That Act provides for a general right of access to records held by public bodies and that they should be released unless they are found to be exempt.
Certain of the bank’s records are exempt from release, particularly those containing confidential commercial information.
“We’ve had a great difficulty in dealing with the bank in respect of the extent of our jurisdiction,” Mr Tyndall said.
“As far as we’re concerned, if the bank makes a decision that a record is excluded, that should be subject to review by my office. Otherwise, there’s no independent scrutiny of those provisions.
“The bank, despite the new regime, having clearly indicated a strong commitment to transparency and openness, has taken a different view. It has taken the view that if any record contains any such information that the record itself becomes exempt and is not subject to review by my office. This is clearly an entirely unsatisfactory position.”
Legal advice
Mr Tyndall said the central policy unit of the Department of Public Expenditure had received legal advice from the Attorney General and had issued a guidance note which confirmed his office’s interpretation of the legislation.
In a statement, the Central Bank said it was fully committed to meeting all its obligations under Freedom of Information and to the provision of access to FOI-related information and records.
Since it had become subject to FOI in April last year, it had processed 175 requests.
“The Central Bank is not breaching the FOI legislation and has made all the relevant records available to the Office of Information Commissioner (OIC),” it said.
The bank said the issue that had arisen with the commissioner was one of a legal interpretation of a schedule in the Act.
Legal advice provided to the bank was that records containing confidential financial, commercial or regulatory information fell outside the Act. The bank said it had agreed to submit to the commissioner’s review process by supplying the office with records it requested, including some records containing sensitive information.
As part of its commitment to openness and transparency, the bank had also published a range of other information, including travel expenditure, HR policies and the monthly meetings of the Central Bank commission since last December.