A WATCHDOG was drafted in over the troubled Casement Park project after emergency crews expressed concern about the handling of Freedom of Information laws.
The safety group overseeing the GAA stadium plans is also using a file-share system to limit "FOI obligations", correspondence seen by The Irish News reveals.
It emerges after the Safety Technical Group (STG) earlier this year eventually agreed the terms on how it should operate nearly five months behind schedule.
Lawyers had been called in by some organisations amid a disagreement over the handling of FOI requests under the draft terms of reference.
For years the plans to redevelop Casement Park in west Belfast have been plagued with problems and delays.
In 2014 planning permission was overturned after a High Court judge ruled it was unlawful.
Funding for the £77m project is mostly coming from public finances, with around £6m already spent even though construction has not yet started.
The GAA hopes to lodge a fresh planning application this year and finish construction in 2019.
Minutes from the STG – which includes representatives of the GAA, Belfast City Council and the emergency services – were released through FOI.
The documents show Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) officials attended an STG meeting in April to give advice before an agreement on the terms of reference was reached.
It followed an Ambulance Service official calling for the watchdog's involvement some months earlier.
Minutes from February show the STG discussed "FOI/confidentiality issues".
STG chair Danny McSorley, appointed in October last year, said the group needed to consider how to create a "safe space" for dialogue, but "within the spirit of the FOI Act".
A GAA official said it worked on the assumption that discussions would "end up in the media", but he "would welcome an environment where this did not have to be the case".
A Belfast council official then "suggested that since 'ownership' of the information appears to be central to FOI obligations, an online facility such as an MS Box may provide an opportunity for organisations to view information without owning it".
Mr McSorley confirmed that an online facility would be implemented.
He also discussed the possibility of using an exemption under FOI to prevent disclosure of STG papers until the planning application stage.
In April last year former STG chair Paul Scott told a Stormont committee efforts were being made to block FOIs.
Weeks earlier STG minutes had revealed safety advisers had not approved design plans for the redeveloped Casement Park.
The minutes only were disclosed through an FOI request – several months after residents won a judicial review against the plans.
Introduced in 2000, FOI gives people a right of access to an array of information held by public authorities.
The STG terms of reference agreed earlier this year include a page-long section on 'confidentiality' and the process for responding to FOI requests.
An Ulster GAA spokesman last night said: "Ulster GAA continues to engage in an open and transparent way with all members of the STG and this vital work with the emergency services fully adheres to due process and procedure."
A Department for Communities (DfC) spokesman said a Civil Service online file storage system is used for "good governance".
"The benefit of using such a system to support major projects, is that very large documents can be uploaded and issued to invited stakeholders with protected access rights," he said.
"The reason for using this system is good governance, including the ability to release information under FOI upon request."
