Vol. 528 No. 1
376 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the number of freedom of information requests received by his Department; the number of requests rejected; if he will review the treatment of freedom of information requests; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29468/00]
Since commencement of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, on 21 April 1998, my Department has received a total of 201 requests for records which have been dealt with as follows: requests granted, 86; requests part-granted, 35; requests refused, 26; requests transferred, 15; requests withdrawn or handled outside FOI, 33; and live cases, 6.
Of the total of 201 requests, 26 requests have been refused outright, that is, none of the records requested were released by the Department. Of those 26 refusals, 19 were refused on the grounds that the Department did not hold the records requested. The balance of requests refused – seven – were refused in accordance with the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.
All requesters have, of course, a right of appeal, ultimately to the Information Commissioner, if they are not satisfied with the Department's decision and they are informed of that right in all replies that issue from the Department in relation to requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
In its treatment of requests received under Freedom of Information Act, 1997, my Department complies with all the requirements of the legislation. My Department monitors the operation of the Act on an ongoing basis and publishes, as part of its annual report, a report on the operation of the Act – the latest such report is included in the Department's 1999 annual report and covers requests received during the first two years of operation of the Freedom of Information Act to April 2000.
