Officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) were concerned that plans to introduce Freedom of Information legislation would result in sources in Europe drying up – to Ireland’s “great disadvantage” – files from 1995 show.
Amid plans to bring in the new legislation, which was eventually implemented in 1997, officials in the DFA expressed fears about the impact it could have.
Ireland’s Freedom of Information legislation, which was updated in 2014, gives people the right to request copies of records held by public bodies and Government departments.
A request can be refused for multiple reasons, including if the information in question contains personal or commercially sensitive information or if it is protected by legal privilege.
Government officials had a number of concerns about the legislation prior to its introduction.
An internal document dated July 10th, 1995, noted that DFA officials wanted to “ensure that it continues to be possible for the Irish administration to gather information effectively on policy formulation within the European Union institutions”.
In the file, a DFA official said there were “two major sources of information” from Europe for the Irish administration at the time – the European Council and its working groups, and the European Commission.
“We rely heavily on the flow of information from within the Commission either through the Cabinet or direct from contacts in the services, for advance warning of Commission intentions,” the official wrote.
They said Irish officials “relied very heavily on access to internal Commission documentation” when preparing their negotiating positions on certain topics.
Citing concerns about the proposed legislation, the DFA official said: “If this documentation, or internal national documents drawing on it, goes into the public arena, then the sources will dry up to our great disadvantage.”
They continued: “The loss of influence will be perceptible. We will be seriously hampered in trying to ensure that Commission proposals come out in a form satisfactory to Ireland. A Commission proposal is very hard to change once it has been made – unanimity is required.”