Freedom of Information delays ‘shameful’

DECISIONS on the release of contentious records under the Freedom Of Information Act are being delayed by years due to a lack of staff in the appeals body.

Information commissioner Emily O’Reilly is concerned at the delays in the processing of appeals by her office due to pressures of resources. The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) said in recent weeks they had 900 appeals, including some cases received in 1999, and 200 from before January 2002.

The figures were contained in a letter from the OIC to Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen, explaining why he had still not received a decision on an appeal he made almost two- and-a-half years ago.

“The delays are a matter of serious concerns to the commissioner. However, given the current pressure and resources, it has not been practicable to make decisions as quickly as she would wish,” the letter said.

According to Mr Allen the lack of resources granted to Ms O’Reilly’s office is a deliberate tactic to delay the release of important information. “It’s shameful the information commissioner is being choked by a lack of resources and being gagged by the new laws restricting the Freedom Of Information Act,” he said.

The specific files sought by the Cork North-Central TD in this case relate to the level of public and private practice by hospital consultants in each of the public hospitals in Cork and Kerry, operated by the Southern Health Board.

The original FoI request dated back three years and the data was first sought at board level from the SHB in 1999. Despite the letter to Mr Allen a fortnight ago expressing concerns about the delays and large numbers of reviews on hand, a spokesperson for the OIC said the office was satisfied with the level of resources and that applications were being dealt with quickly.

The spokesperson said there were 663 cases on file, with 270 dating back to before April 2002, including 140 from 2001. Less than 10 dated back to 1999 and 2000 and a number of these were being requested by the applicants to be delayed due to legal actions.

The OIC is working to a plan to clear the backlog, which is expected to be finished by the start of 2005, but last year the system was swamped by requests relating to abuse in Industrial Schools and Residential Institutions.

The average wait for a decision on an appeal is four months and as systems have improved, cases can be dealt with more easily, the spokesman said.