Vol. 548 No. 2
415 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science if, further to Parliamentary Question No. 25 of 31 January 2002, he will out line the reason personal records relating to a person (details supplied) in the United Kingdom have not been released to that person; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4252/02]
Under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, it is open to former residents of industrial schools to seek personal records relating to them held by the Department.
The person referred to by the Deputy made an application for access to personal and other records held by my Department in respect of his placement in Artane Industrial School. My Department identified all personal and general records relating to the requester's period in the school. The majority of records were released in full. Those records that were withheld partially, or to which access was refused, were not personal to the requester and access was refused in accordance with the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997.
A request for an internal review of these decisions was received and duly processed by my Department. The original decision to refuse access to 15 records was annulled and the records were accordingly released in full to the requester. An additional 12 records, which were previously released on a partial basis only, were released in full on foot of the internal review. The request for access to non-personal records was refused on internal review as the records in question are outside the scope of the FOI Act.
My Department's decision in this case was appealed by the person concerned to the Office of the Information Commissioner. The information commissioner conducted a review of the requester's case and instructed my Department to release a further four records, three in full and one partially. My Department has complied with the terms of the information commissioner's ruling and is satisfied that the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, have been complied with in full in this case.
