Vol. 558 No. 1
178 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason no reply has issued from his Department on two Freedom of Information Act, 1997, requests submitted on the scrapie depopulation scheme 2001/02; if this matter will be investigated; and when replies, as requested, will issue. [23273/02]
The records of my Department show that a freedom of information request, dated 12 July 2002, from the Deputy was received in the Department. This was not a request for access to records or documents and, accordingly, the Deputy was notified on 24 July 2002 that it was being dealt with as a routine request for information outside of the FOI Act. The information was subsequently provided on that basis.
The reply to the Deputy's freedom of information request of 25 September 2002 issued yesterday. The delay in providing the records requested is regretted. The relevant division of my Department did receive, at the same time, a very large number of FOI requests involving extensive searches and detailed examination of a high volume of documentation.
