2/ One politician who always makes sure he has his mask on when the cameras are rolling in the chamber.
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).
A high-level group of the most senior civil servants in the country were given the ball ... and they ran away with it.
Oireachtas staff members tasked with monitoring compliance with Covid-19 public health guidelines are taking “abuse and hostility”.
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: 
… 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” 
April 1: Dept wants to ensure there are no more than three people to a room in direct provision. Possibility of moving residents from 10 B&Bs around the country to different facilities is also considered: 
The Department has said the records are exempt under Section 29 and 30 of the FOI Act. The first is that they relate to a deliberative process (even ones from Jan???) and the second, well you can read for yourself - the most blurry and wide-ranging of all our many FOI exemptions: 
Minister Simon Coveney billed €29,520 for PR advice from Springboard PR & Marketing. The maximum allowable claim under this allowance in a year is €41,902. This is one of three invoices: 
The highest earners were Millstreet Equestrian Services. They received €11.6 million. They have provided accommodation at their Millstreet Centre in Cork and at other centres in Kerry, Tipperary, and Waterford: 
The reason I find this so strange is that the minister had been extensively briefed on coronavirus in the weeks leading up to February 8. Here's one relating to a memo for the information of government from Jan 29: 
Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny declared seven trips abroad. This included trips to Germany, Portugal, Barbados, UK, and three to the U.S. The one to Barbados was to discuss Ireland's "economic recovery" with the government there: 
At first, the Dept of Public Expenditure (the department responsible for FOI in Ireland!) did not even answer request. I sought an internal review on the basis this was a "deemed refusal". The Department eventually responded to say they held no records relating to the meeting: 
Policy formulation can mean many things under the guidelines. Last year, Minister Sean Canney put in for €3,258 in this category. It was exclusively made up of restaurant bills: 
Information Commissioner says in future, public bodies are required to make sure records held in "non-official systems, email accounts, and devices" are forwarded to official communications systems as soon as practicable. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action: 
There is a slow and steady whittling away of our right of access to public information that is being fought every day and at the moment, we are losing this fight. In cases involving the President, the law has been retrospectively changed to try and shut down requests:
The Tuam Mother & Baby Home was under the "supervision, direction, and inspection" of the local authority and the Department of Health. Galway County Council paid for a doctor and a chaplain and the home was inspected by health inspectors: 
