Freedom of Information

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 September 2021

Thursday, 9 September 2021

Questions (84)

Matt Carthy

Question:

84. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of freedom of information requests responded to by his Department in each of the years 2016 to 2020 and to date in 2021; the number of responses that included documents related to text messages and other phone message communications such as messages sent through an application (details supplied) in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42963/21]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications

The number of Freedom of Information requests my Department has received from 2016 to 2020 and to date in 2021 is set out in the table below.

Year	Number of Freedom of Information Requests
2016	159
2017	195
2018	362
2019	464
2020	184
2021*	139

*up to 08 September 2021

My Department does not maintain statistics relating to different record types, including documents related to text messages and other phone message communications such as messages sent through WhatsApp. This information is not readily available and its compilation would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work.