354. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Transport the reason for extending Freedom of Information Act 2014 exemptions to the Medical Bureau of Road Safety in respect of railway intoxicant testing records under the Railway Safety Bill 2026; the transparency considerations underpinning this amendment; and if he will make a statement on the matter.' [60798/26]

The Medical Bureau of Road Safety is a public body for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2014. The Bureau is one of the entities to which a partial exemption is applied under Part 1 of Schedule 1 of that Act. In the case of the Bureau, the Act specifies that the exemption for records is “insofar as it relates to records concerning, or arising from, the forensic criminal investigation functions performed by the Bureau under the Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2014, including the analysis of specimens and the approval, supply, testing and maintenance of apparatus and of equipment used for the purpose of those Acts”.

The Bureau will be performing the same functions under the Railway Safety Act 2005 as those it performs for the purposes of the Road Traffic Acts and, accordingly, it is appropriate that the same partial exemption under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 should also apply to the corresponding records arising in the Bureau. The Bureau publishes detailed information and statistics in relation to the analysis of specimens and the performance of its functions in its Annual Report.