Vol. 503 No. 4
29 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach his Department's policy in regard to charging for freedom of information requests; the amount of money raised to date from these charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9868/99]
Section 47 of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, provides that fees may be charged only in respect of the cost of search for and retrieval of records and the cost of copying of records. Fees may not be charged for examination of records or other deliberations involved in processing requests. The fees for search and retrieval are fixed by reference to the clerical officer scale – at £16.50 per hour. Copying charges are 3p per copy for photocopies, 40p for a floppy disk and £8 for a CD-Rom.
It is the policy of the Department not to charge fees unless the amount of work involved is substantial. Of the 165 requests received to date, fees have been sought in only five cases. The total amount charged was £176.40. No fees were charged in 96 per cent of cases.
