The current Freedom of Information Act came into effect on 14th October 2014. In accordance with SI 264/2003 the previous fee for an FOI application was €15 and the fee for a review was €75 (€10 and €25 respectively for medical card holders) . Under the 2014 Act, the application fee was abolished and the fee for a review was reduced to €30 (€10 for medical card holders).
The fees collected on an annual basis by the Department of Transport in accordance with the Freedom of Information Acts from 2014 to 2020 are set out in the attached table:
Year
|
Fees collected
|
2014
|
€1151.82
|
2015
|
€685
|
2016
|
€252
|
2017
|
€320
|
2018
|
€692.88
|
2019
|
€655
|
2020
|
€560
|
The figures provided are inclusive of fees received from search and retrieval, internal reviews and application fees applicable from January-October 2014 (prior to being abolished). While the fee structure has been helpful in terms of discouraging vexatious requests, the Department actively works with each requester to minimise or eliminate the costs that may arise in relation to their request.