The Information Commissioner has said there are too many public bodies exempted from the Freedom of Information Act.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's News At One, Emily O'Reilly also said it is regrettable and disturbing that the Health Service Executive has still not released any inspection reports on nursing homes.
Earlier, at the launch of her annual report, she said she finds it 'quite extraordinary' that certain public bodies do not come under the remit of the act.
Referring to the exclusion of An Garda Siochána, the commissioner said that Scottish police came under a Freedom Of Information Act in that jurisdiction and 'the heavens hadn't fallen'.
She said people would not be entitled to information on criminal investigations but she believed people were entitled to make requests for information on what she called the administration of policing.
The commissioner's report showed that the number of Freedom of Information requests last year was just over 14,600 - a 16% increase on the previous year.
The report also shows that the number of requests from journalists for information under the act has fallen to 6.5% of requests, compared to 20% of all requests made in 2001.
As well as An Garda Síochána, the Garda Ombudsman Commission and the Central Bank are outside the scope of the act.
The National Treasury Management Agency, 33 vocational educational committees, the Residential Institutions Redress Board and the Central Applications Office are among the other bodies that are not included.
