Vol. 528 No. 1
344 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the number of freedom of information requests received by her Department; the number of requests rejected; if she will review the treatment of freedom of information requests; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29466/00]
Up to the end of November 2000, my Department had received 476 requests under the Freedom of Information Act since it came into effect on 21 April 1998. Of those, 208 have been granted in full, 60 have been part granted, 98 have been refused and of these two were appealed to the Information Commissioner. Seventeen requests have been transferred to other public bodies, 45 requests have been withdrawn or handled outside of the provisions of the Act, and the remainder are current.
I am satisfied that requests received are being handled within the provisions of the Act, and that the Act is being operated well in my Department, and subject to ongoing review.
