Vol. 494 No. 5
19 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Taoiseach if he will give details of the number of applications made to his Department for the release of information under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997; the number of requests granted and refused; if he will list the applications granted and refused; if he has satisfied himself with the operation of the Act within his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17511/98]
20 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach the total number of requests to date his Department has received under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, the number of requests refused; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17638/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 19 and 20 together.
The information sought is contained in the schedule which is being circulated.
Since the Act commenced on 21 April 1998, my Department has received 50 requests. Some 20 have been granted and of these ten have been partially granted. Seven requests are ongoing and four requests were transferred to other Departments. Where requests have been partially granted, certain information was withheld as it was exempt under various relevant sections of the Act. In addition, 17 requests have been refused and two have been withdrawn.
All but one of the requests fully processed to date have been dealt with within the timeframes allowed under the Act. The specific length of time taken to process each request within these time limits varies, depending on the complexity of the request and the volume of records requested.
