Cowen to retain fees charged for FOI requests

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen has decided to retain the fees charged under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, despite concerns they are preventing scrutiny of Government decisions.

In doing so, he has chosen to ignore recommendations by Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly that a review of the fees be undertaken.

The number of FOI requests has fallen substantially since the Government decided in 2003 to introduce fees and place restrictions on the type of material that would be made available.