Vol. 537 No. 5
110 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Education and Science if he has satisfied himself with the response times for the freedom of information requests in his Department; the arrangements which have been put in place to cope with the higher than average requests that are made to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17118/01]
The total number of applications received in my Department under the Freedom of Information Act from 21 April 1998, the date of commencement of the Act to 31 May 2001 was 2,140.
I am conscious that there have been some difficulties in the response times in freedom of information requests made to my Department. My Department has recently put in place new measures to assess the times taken for response for all freedom of information requests to ensure that requests are answered in accordance with the Act.
However, significant difficulties have been experienced in replying to one particular category of requests. The reason for the higher than average number of freedom of information requests received by my Department relates to the very large number of requests, 1,552 or 72% of the total received from former residents of industrial-reformatory schools who are seeking copies of records relating to their time in industrial or reformatory schools.
I am strongly committed to the full release of all personal information to the former residents of the institutions. However, I am concerned that delays have been and continue to be experienced in dealing with these requests. To some extent this is due to the large number of requests being received. It also reflects difficulties in applying the very formal procedures of the Freedom of Information Act to the release of what can be very sensitive personal records.
My Department has a number of options to address these problems: a computerisation project – a process which will put all of the records on a computer format to allow for their speedy retrieval to facilitate faster release of records; allocation of staff resources – significant additional staff have been allocated to the section dealing with freedom of information requests in this area; Barnardos project – the Department is in the final stages of an agreement with Barnardos to allow for the release of personal records through that agency in a much quicker and more sensitive manner to the one making the request.
