Freedom of Information Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 February 2018

Tuesday, 27 February 2018

Ceisteanna (784)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

784. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of freedom of information requests her Department has received in the past eight years; the number of which were accepted without further escalation and not accepted respectively; the number requested which were not accepted that were escalated to the Information Commissioner; the number of which the Information Commissioner ruled in favour of the person requesting the freedom of information; the number of which the Information Commissioner ruled against her Department; the number her Department appealed to the High Court; the number the High Court ruled against her Department in favour of the applicant; the number which were then brought to the Court of Appeal by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9300/18]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

The information requested by the Deputy in respect of the period since the establishment of my Department on 2 June 2011 is set out in the following table.

Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Total number of requests received	27	69	56	84	163	169	158
Number of Requests Responded to in accordance with FOI Act	25	51	47	63	142	132	131
Requests withdrawn by Requester or handled outside FOI by agreement with Requester	2	18	9	21	21	37	27
Requests appealed to the OIC	0	0	1	1	2	4	5

The Office of the Information Commissioner has, following review, annulled one departmental decision and varied two other decisions in the period 2011 to 2017. I am advised that my Department has not appealed any decisions of the Office of the Information Commissioner to the High Court during the period in question.