Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 December 2019
138. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Minister for Finance the number of freedom of information requests in which his Department made a decision to deny; and the number in which the Information Commissioner overturned the decision of his Department in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019. [51461/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy may be aware, in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2014, there are many grounds on which an FOI Body can refuse a request, including:
- Section 15(1)(a) where records do not exist
- Section 15(1)(b) insufficient particulars
- Section 15(1)(c) Voluminous
- Section 15(1)(d) information in the Public Domain
- Section 15(1)(h) Non Payment of Fees, etc.
Furthermore, the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) is not restricted in its deliberations to only consider appeals on cases where FOI requests were refused by an FOI Body. A requester may also submit an appeal to the OIC in instances where the Department has granted or part granted requests for records.
The information as requested by the Deputy is provided in tabular format below:
|
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
|
|
FOI requests refused |
70 |
109 |
80 |
76 |
|
OIC reviews which annulled or varied the original decision by the Department. |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
Finally, decisions of the OIC can be found on the OIC website at https://www.oic.ie/
