While Ireland adds new public sector organisation to its list of bodies covered by Freedom of Information rules, Britain is allowing its list to erode.

The Irish Minister for Finance, which oversees the republic’s FOI Act, has added 109 public bodies to the list of organisations that must comply with requests for information. The Irish Information Commissioner, Emily O’Reilly, is calling for even more organisations to be added to the list.

In Britain, meanwhile, the City Academy scheme means that some state schools which were previously subject to FOI requests are no longer covered by the openness law.