Government's fees move leads to huge drop in FoI requests

THERE has been a dramatic drop in the number of requests for information since fees were introduced last year, it has emerged.

Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly reported that overall usage of the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) fell by over 50% during 2003.

Requests for non-personal information the type sought by journalists, business people and Oireachtas members were down by 75%.