Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 29 Jun 1999

Vol. 507 No. 2

Written Answers. - Freedom of Information Act.

Marian McGennis

Ceist:

51 Ms M. McGennis asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the companies or businesses from which his Department has received most frequent requests under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, other than requests by businesses for personal information; the general nature of the information sought; and the costs levied on the companies or businesses for the processing of these requests. [16412/99]

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources (Dr. Woods)

The companies or businesses from which my Department has received the most frequent requests under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997 are as follows:

Company	Number ofFOI requests	Nature of Information Sought
Irish Fishermens Organisation	4	List of Departmental files; Fish Withdrawal Compensation Scheme; Fishing Vessel Register.
Phoenix	4	Correspondence between Department and named Solicitors; Provision of lands by Coillte for festivals; Insurance brokers used by Department.
RTE	10	List of files held by Department; Dumping at Sea (including munitions); Oil and gas extraction; Minutes of Management Advisory and Management Committee meetings; Correspondence between Secretary General and the Department of Finance on the ESRI Report on the National Development Plan 2000-06.
The Sunday Times	3	Details of staff sick leave during May, 1998; Ministerial Christmas gifts; Ministerial expenses.

Apart from a fee of £40 levied on RTE, in respect of the FOI request for access to the list of files held by the Department, no fees have been levied on the companies listed above for processing the FOI requests received from them.