Thread: A TD claimed to have secretly photographed staff working at Leinster House to gather “evidence” some were not wearing masks.
During the same incident, another TD told a staff member asked to monitor public health compliance they were like the “morality police” in Iran.
In an email, one of the compliance staff made an official complaint asking if the matter should be notified to the Data Protection Commission (@DPCIreland).
TD had claimed to have surreptitiously photographed 16 staff, 14 of whom he said were not wearing masks.
A few days later, the official involved was told that “one particular Deputy” would be spoken to while letters would issue to two others.
They were told their “willingness to undertake these duties” was appreciated. The email was sent at 00:42.
Later that day, they wrote to say they were now withdrawing the complaint as an alternative method to address the matter had been identified.
BTW - I asked the Oireachtas what this "alternative method" was … they didn’t respond.
In May, another secret photograph claim (it’s not clear if it’s the same one) was made relating to staff going about their duties.
It was detailed in a complaint where a small group of TDs claimed they were being singled out for constantly flouting public health guidelines.
These records released to @RightToKnowIE. We have appealed the decision to redact the names of the TDs involved.
Records will be published in full tomorrow over at: thestory.ie
A high-level group of the most senior civil servants in the country were given the ball ... and they ran away with it.
It was their work that began discussion over vexatious requests, "trawling", and fees to help shut FOI down. It's all in black and white in the records:
The hand-written note in this one says: "This is key. There will be criticism of this."
Again, this is the work of the civil service, not Cabinet.
As long as you remain silent on this issue and don't raise it with your local TD or Senator, nothing is going to change. This is about much more than political pensions ... this is just the latest phase in an unraveling of our Freedom of Information Act:
There are people within government who believe access to information about how our state operates has gone too far. Bit by bit, they are chipping away at it. Information that was once freely available is now refused. GDPR is often used as a smokescreen ...
... Separately, there are battles being waged on commercial sensitivity. Exemptions are being much more freely used than in the past. Patently absurd decisions are becoming more and more regular. Delays in answering requests by some public bodies are systematic and there are ...
Thread: Govt paid out €5.23M for new jet amid concerns that Taoiseach & ministers would need to travel abroad at short notice because of Covid-19 or Brexit. "Commercial travel in current developing situation may be unavailable, unreliable, insecure or too risky to contemplate."
Internal records reveal how government was given opportunity to purchase two jets from Pilatus. A senior civil servant said "normal procurement rules need to be relaxed" so that the Irish state could go ahead with buying or leasing the aircraft:
Business case explained that existing government Learjet was purchased in late 2003 and although expected to remain in service for a number of years requires maintenance in the UK or on the continent. (Incidentally, it's currently out for maintenance)
Thread: Every day for the past month, I’ve tweeted documents obtained using Freedom of Information and about the uphill battle we face to ensure continued access to public records. I hoped during government formation talks, it might provoke a public debate about transparency …
… It didn’t! It does however give a sense of what can be achieved through FOI, from release of Apple tax case fees to Covid-19 postcode data. It also gives a flavour of the difficulties: withholding of political pensions, unrecorded meetings + the state’s beloved “exemptions”
This is a selection of tweets from the last month, starting with the release of fees paid in the Apple tax case to individual lawyers. This practice had been ceased amid concerns over GDPR but was challenged by @RightToKnowIE:
Today is the second time Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has made remarks about direct provision not being "compulsory". Last year, he said the very same thing and said people could "leave at any time". A few small questions about that: irishtimes.com/news/politics/…
When he says people can leave, what does he mean by that? They are not allowed to go to another country in Europe because their application for international protection needs to be processed in Ireland. So that leaves really two options.
Does he mean they can go and find their own accommodation? Clearly, many residents cannot do this given they get €38-a-month in welfare and are not eligible for the housing supports that would apply to other people - direct provision is THE housing system for applicants.