Freedom of Information Requests

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2015

Tuesday, 16 June 2015

Questions (373)

Barry Cowen

Question:

373. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide, in tabular form, for each year from 2009 to 2015 and for 2015 to date, the total number of freedom of information requests received by his Department; the total refused; granted; part-granted; successful appeals; part-successful appeals; and refusals of appeals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23601/15]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The Freedom of Information data requested is set out in the following table.

In relation to your request for data concerning appeals, I have included data on both internal reviews carried out by more senior members of staff within my Department and on appeals to the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC).

If a requester is not satisfied with the response of my Department to any aspect of his/her request for information he/she can seek to have the decision re-examined. The internal review of an FOI decision is carried out by a more senior member of staff within my Department. Following the outcome of the internal review of the decision, if a requester is still unhappy with the decision, he/she has the right to appeal the decision to the OIC.

Number of FOI.....	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015 (11/06/2015)
requests processed	190	171	193	211	242	182	130
requests granted	93	90	73	75	106	84	34
requests part granted	62	48	78	84	91	75	45
requests refused	35	33	42	52	45	23	14
requests ongoing	0	0	0	0	0	0	37
decisions reviewed internally	24	28	31	29	31	25	19
decisions upheld	*	*	*	16	20	18	7
decisions varied	*	*	*	13	11	7	10
reviews ongoing	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
decisions appealed to OIC	10	17	4	16	8	10	4
decisions affirmed	*	*	*	4	4	5	0
decisions varied	*	*	*	4	1	2	0
decisions annulled	*	*	*	2	0	1	0
appeals withdrawn	*	*	*	6	3	2	0
appeals ongoing	*	*	*	0	0	0	4

* These statistics have not been compiled for the years 2009 to 2011 inclusive.