Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 3 Apr 2003

Vol. 564 No. 3

Written Answers - Freedom of Information.

Richard Bruton

Question:

191 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the instances in the past five years where a record relating to the deliberative process of a public body under his Department was released under the Freedom of Information Act 1997 where the public interest was not on balance better served by granting rather than refusing the request; and in each case if this release was made by the head of the public body or on appeal to the Information Commissioner. [9304/03]

Richard Bruton

Question:

192 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the instances in which records relating to a committee appointed by the Government to advise it on a particular issue have been released under the Freedom of Information Act 1997 where the public interest was not on balance better served by granting rather than refusing the request; and in each case if this release was made by the head of the public body or on appeal to the Information Commissioner. [9319/03]

Richard Bruton

Question:

193 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the instances in which records relating to security, defence or international relations have been released under the Freedom of Information Act 1997 where the public interest was not on balance better served by granting rather than refusing the request; and in each case if this release was made by the head of the public body or on appeal to the Information Commissioner. [9349/03]

Richard Bruton

Question:

194 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the instances where the existence of information which was either obtained in confidence, or commercially sensitive was released under the Freedom of Information Act 1997 where the public interest was not on balance better served by granting rather than refusing the request; and in each case if this release was made by the head of the public body or on appeal to the Information Commissioner. [9335/03]

Richard Bruton

Question:

195 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the instances where communications between Ministers on a specific matter which has been submitted to the Government for their consideration have been released under the Freedom of Information Act 1997 where the public interest was not on balance better served by granting rather than refusing the request; and in each case if this release was made by the head of the public body or on appeal to the Information Commissioner. [9364/03]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 191 to 195, inclusive, together.

Since the commencement of the Act my Department has received in excess of 3,000 requests for access to records. Applying the provisions of the Act, it has been possible to release records in 1,400 of these cases. Many of the refusals relate to records not held by the Department or to records covered by legal professional privilege, commercial sensitivity, and Cabinet confidentiality. Up to December 2002, 41 decisions in all have been appealed to the Information Commissioner, of which less than a quarter have led to the release of additional records.

The Deputy asks for examples where disclosures under the Act have proved injurious to the public interest and whether these disclosures were made by my Department or the Information Commissioner. It is not the practice to monitor the outcome of specific disclosures under the Act and such an assessment would present many difficulties. However, I am not aware of any case where disclosure by either office has had a significant negative impact on the public interest.