Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 10 Mar 1998

Vol. 488 No. 4

Written Answers - Freedom of Information Act.

John Gormley

Ceist:

22 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the staff appointments made, the resources made available and the procedures put in place, if any, in his Department to allow for the effective use of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997. [6348/98]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

A range of measures have been or are being put in place in my Department to ensure that members of the public and other interested parties are enabled to avail of their rights under the freedom of information legislation. Because of the range of the Department's business and the extent of its interaction with the public there is potential for a high volume of requests for access to individual records held by the Department, when the Act comes into operation next month. The Act also provides a statutory right of access to the reasons for decisions made by public bodies and to the guidelines used in making decisions on entitlement to payments and services. The Department has considerably improved in recent years the level of access to this type of information and the implementation of the requirements of the Act in this respect will involve the completion of a process which was already in train.

The arrangements for dealing with requests made to my Department for information under the Act are currently being put in place. Under these arrangements, there will be a designated freedom of information officer in each local office and scheme area to decide on requests for personal information. Requests for access under the Act to non-personal records will be processed by specially designated staff in headquarters. Staff are also being designated to consider applictions for review of decisions made by the freedom of information officers. These arrangements involved some reallocation of work within the offices but the question as to whether additional resources will need to be allocated will depend on experience with regard to the implementation of the legislation in practice.

All officers who will process requests under the Act are receiving specialised training on what is involved and specific resources have been allocated for this training within the Department's administration budget. In addition, all other staff of my Department will be briefed on the provisions of the freedom of information legislation and the arrangements for dealing with requests for access to records.

Implementation of freedom of information requires appropriate records management and request tracking systems to be put into place. Development of the Department's computer systems to cater for this requirement is under way.

An information leaflet explaining the arrangements for obtaining access to social welfare records is being published and will be available to members of the public. We are also publishing, as required by the Act, a guide to the functions and information held by my Department as well as information on the internal rules and practices used by my officials in making decisions on entitlements.

The co-ordination of the arrangements for implementing the legislation was assigned to the decisions advisory unit in the Department. This unit was set up in 1992 to monitor and advise on the quality of decisions and information on social welfare claims. Within the last 9 months four additional staff were assigned to the decisions advisory office to work full-time on the freedom of information project.