O’Reilly called in gardaí on FOI request

THE Ombudsman was forced to contact the gardaí after the former credit union watchdog ignored repeated requests to release a report under the Freedom of Information Act.

However, when the report was finally supplied, it could not be made public because new legislation ensured it was not covered by the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

The record sought an interim draft report on Gurranabraher Credit Union in Cork City would have been covered by FOI if it had been released before May 1, 2003, 14 months after it was first requested by the Ombudsman.

Instead, after numerous requests, it was handed over to the Ombudsman on May 1, the day the credit union watchdog the Office of the Registrar of Friendly Societies (ORFS) was subsumed into the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA). IFSRA is not covered by FOI.

Yesterday IFSRA refused to comment on the delay in releasing the report saying "we have no comment to make because FOI does not apply to us".

The report on Gurranabraher Credit Union, some of which is public knowledge, outlined abuse of expenses, poor investment of members' money and allegations of bullying and harassment.

The initial FOI request for a copy of the report was submitted by the Irish

Examiner to the ORFS in May 2001. The request had to be submitted three times before a reply was received.

The request for information was denied. This decision was appealed to the Office of the

Information Commission (OIC)/Ombudsman.

In February 2002 the OIC confirmed the appeal was under review and it submitted its first request for the report to the Registrar.

By January 2003, the Registrar had failed to respond to requests for the report. The Registrar was given two weeks to comply or face the possibility of fines of up to €1,904 or six months imprisonment or both, under section 37 of the FOI Act.

But during April 2003, the Registrar claimed it was seeking and considering legal advice. On April 24, 2003, the records were promised the following day.

They were not received and Mr O'Reilly then contacted the gardaí.

On May 1, one week later, records were supplied. Unfortunately, they could not be released under FOI because of a change in legislation.

"I cannot follow the records into IFSRA," Ms O'Reilly said yesterday in a letter to the Irish Examiner.

The change in legislation which made material once available under FOI inaccessible was "unprecedented in the history of my office", Ms O'Reilly said.

A spokesperson for the OIC said the difficulties in dealing with the ORFS may be commented on in its next annual report.

Ms O'Reilly said the likelihood is she may not have released the report anyway.